Granted, the story was about China, not Seattle, and could have been written anywhere. This does not excuse the Times editors from failing to notice the fairly obvious screwup and getting it fixed before printing it. Whoever did it, I can't cut that person any slack for not knowing the meaning of "light rail." There is enough of it around that any educated person should know what is meant.

Also, it's quite correct that the mistake may not have been the reporter's. Every reporter has had the experience of writing something correctly, only to have the desk, using its supposedly superior knowledge, change it and make it wrong. The copyreader's mantra is "Don't change it unless you would bet a week's salary on it," but not all follow that rule.

By the way, thanks for reminding me about Sounder; I visit Seattle from time to time but my usual path does not take me too close to the line and I had forgotten about it.