Is this local computer-caused rail yard jam really only local?

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This was on the front page of our Beaver County PA newspaper this morning. Made me shiver a bit. And wonder . . . Where else? What's the fault tolerance for "late shipments of raw materials and difficulties finding rail cars to pick up finished goods."

URL is www.timesonline.com -- but the story will disappear overnight.

FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

Times Online News Story Thursday, July 15, 1999 Trouble in Conway Yards

By Stephanie Waite

Times Business Editor

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

n CONWAY

Just one glance at Conway Yards tells the story of how things have gone since Norfolk Southern and CSX officially took over operation of Conrail June 1.

Rail cars, lots of them, clog the lines alongside Route 65 in Conway, in the former Conrail yard now owned by Norfolk Southern. Brown and blue and gray and black, they fill the rail yard, at some points lining up all the way from Route 65 to the Ohio River.

"They've got cars sitting on tracks that haven't been used in years," said Sean Daly Ferris, vice chairman for the Brotherhood of the Maintenance of the Way, the union representing track workers.

Suffice it to say the breakup of Conrail has not gone as smoothly as planned. Nationwide, rail customers of CSX and Norfolk Southern are reporting late shipments of raw materials and difficulties finding rail cars to pick up finished goods.

The difficulties, ironically, will benefit the local economy in one way: The closing of the Customer Service Center in North Fayette Township, where 675 people work, has been delayed six months to June 2000, Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband said.

Otherwise, the changeover has wreaked anxiety on employees and customers alike.

Husband couldn't give a date on when the company expects things to begin running smoothly. "We're seeing positive signs of improvement every day ... the overall fluidity has improved greatly," he said. "I don't believe any trains are being held outside Conway."

But Don Dunlevy, Pennsylvania state legislative director for the United Transportation Union, said many problems remain.

"They've been saying since day one that things are getting better. There have been some areas of improvement, but they've still got a long way to go," Dunlevy said. "I question whether they can get it resolved by the end of the year."

As Husband explained it, the problems stem from a computer program not responding as Norfolk Southern had expected. Train cars began arriving at destinations where they weren't expected, and engineers and conductors couldn't get the assistance they needed.

"The entire network just slowed down. The terminal at Conway became very congested," Husband said.

According to Dunlevy, workers could not determine the destination of as many as 35 percent of the cars coming into Conway Yards.

As Ferris sees it, the problems also stem from merging two businesses that were very different. Norfolk Southern was a single-line carrier hauling largely coal; Conrail handled two or three lines of traffic, hauling everything from produce to automobiles.

"Norfolk Southern was very proficient at what it did. But basically it was a coal railroad," Ferris said. "This is the big leagues."

NS has had something of a break from the pressure recently, as coal mines shut down for their annual vacation, and auto assembly plants shut down to retool.

NS is also adding more cars and more workers to help ease the logjam, Husband said. Ninety-two more locomotives have been added from Union Pacific and other companies.

Also, about 145 engineers and conductors have temporarily joined the NS force. Some are on loan from Union Pacific. Some were on furlough from other parts of NS and others are recent Conrail retirees. They will be used throughout the system.

Most of those workers are being trained at Conway Yards, Husband said.

NS is also paying bonuses to workers who forego scheduled vacation time.

The railroad is making sure everyone gets an appropriate amount of rest, to avoid compromising safety, Husband said.

"It's starting to take its toll," Dunlevy said of the situation. "We've got guys who have been working for 12 hours sitting on a locomotive in the middle of nowhere in 90-degree heat waiting for a cab to arrive.

"These guys have busted their butts for this railroad."

Stephanie Waite can be reached online at swaite@calkinsnewspapers.com

This page last updated Thursday, July 15, 1999 6:36 AM EST The Beaver County Times does not publish on Saturday Send Feedback to Leo Bickert ) Copyright 1999 Beaver Newspapers, Inc.

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), July 15, 1999

Answers

I think it was something about a merger with 2 railroad companys. Its a mess here in South Bend IN too. Pepole waiting for over a hour at times, lots of people not making it back from lunch breaks. Its been in the news here for 2 weeks or more.

-- Rooster Cogburn (Gotitlate@wow.com), July 15, 1999.

Hi Faith, how about emailing a copy of your info on trains to the DC-Y2K-WRP listserv. It's linked off of the current page There's a bunch of people there who get their news via email.

I really would like to see the source code for the freight car system again. I saw it about 20 years ago and it was scary then.

-- cory (kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net), July 15, 1999.


Cory, dear, I'm sorry, but I really didn't understand how to send the article to that page the link went to. Sigh. Perhaps you could cut and paste to it?

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), July 15, 1999.

Its been in the news here for 2 weeks or more. <\i>

Hmmm, wasn't July 1st just about two weeks ago?

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), July 15, 1999.


Faith, this sounds like the gridlock caused by the Union Pacific / Santa Fe merger. What is scary to me is, NS and CSX may finally get their act together only to start another logjam on January 1. I read their 1998 Y2K disclosures to the SEC, which indicated they started remediation later than some other rail companies and would probably not be "Y2K ready" before Q3 of 1999. Add to that their ongoing digestion of Conrail (which was operating on unremediated legacy systems) and the result is a recipe for confusion even if Y2K is just a "bump in the road".

The gridlock this time around may not be Y2K, but it looks like a dress-rehearsal for next January.

-- Margaret (janssm@aol.com), July 15, 1999.



"The gridlock this time around may not be Y2K, but it looks like a dress-rehearsal for next January."

Exactly.

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), July 15, 1999.


italics off

hi, Faith

-- de (delewis@inetone.net), July 15, 1999.


Hi,De. Thanks, with a big smile.

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), July 15, 1999.

Atlanta Journal Constitution said today that the "usual" mid-summer slowdown intwo industries is helping to break up the bottlenexks - by reducing demand!

Seems that the automakers shutdown production about now to change over to next year's car models - so nothing is shipped to/from Detroit is such quantities. Also, the coal industry shuts down in mid-summer, so MUCH less traffic is needed in these tracks.

Without those seasonal shutdowns - apparently, the trains would still be stacked up.

We did see many, many extra cars in seemlingly "old" and abandoned yards in south Illinois, in Indiana and across the Ohio river (in Paducah, KY) this summer - wonder if those were part of this backup?

-- Robert A Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), July 15, 1999.


http://www.timesonline.com/ts0715a.html#gen37

beaver county times article

-- Alexi (alexi@not-in-the-dark.com), July 15, 1999.



Sorry Try this.

(Shows the folly of trying to type or think with a fussing baby on one's lap.)

http://www.timesonline.com/ts0715a.html#gen37

times article

-- Alexi (Alexi@not-in-the-dark.com), July 15, 1999.


Oopsie, just found a mistake. Make that merger between Union Pacific and Southern Pacific, not Santa Fe. That got gobbled up by Burlington Northern. 'Twas still a mess for Midwest farmers.

-- Margaret - still looking for my specs . . . (janssm@aol.com), July 15, 1999.

It's been a Y2K eye-opener for folks around here. In the Binghamton, NY area three major rail customers had serious problems. A Frito Lay plant had to shut down due to no corn or corn oil. "Oh my gosh! A Fritos shortage!" The local power plant had gone from a thirty day stockpile to one week's worth of coal on hand. And a local box manufacturing plant was beginning to start shutdown procedures due to lack of cardboard.

Surprisingly the box company was what did it for the people. Most if not all companies in the area depend on that firm for JIT deliveries of boxes specifically designed for their products. If the box comapny stopped production then it wouldn't be long before all the manufacturers in the area would shut down due to lack of packaging.

Tell someone who doesn't understand Y2K that if his employer can't ship he doesn't work but goes home on unpaid leave, and they'll understand Y2K really quick. It's worked for about a dozen people I know.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), July 15, 1999.


This was posted here last month. Link <:)=

By Don Phillips Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 9, 1999; Page E01

One week after taking over a portion of the northeastern railroad Conrail, Norfolk Southern Corp. has suffered a series of serious service disruptions throughout the rail system that have led to supply shortages and could affect some plant operations.

Railroad and shipper sources said that, among other things, both Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. plants in the Midwest have run out of automobile-carrying rail cars, forcing the companies to truck as many automobiles as possible. Procter & Gamble Co. is reporting supply disruptions that could eventually force plant closings, according to sources. And United Parcel Service, which relies heavily on railroads for long-distance shipments, has reported sharply reduced levels of service.

Several major rail yards, including the large Croxton Yard in northern New Jersey, were reported to be congested. Western railroads also have been forced to cancel a number of time-sensitive trains through a Chicago connection with Burlington Northern Santa Fe because NS did not deliver trains or delivered rail cars to improper locations.

CSX Corp., which also absorbed a portion of Conrail June 1 in a $10.2 billion deal, was reported to be operating more smoothly. But railroad sources said Richmond-based CSX also was experiencing scattered problems, including train congestion in some areas, particularly in and around Indianapolis and in parts of the Northeast.

Thus far, the problems aren't as severe as the service disruptions that hit Texas and the West Coast following the 1996 merger of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads. But the problems are serious enough to worry major industrial shippers and some major corporations are passing the word that plant shutdowns are possible if the problems continue.

"We've had some surprising calls about Norfolk Southern," said Edward Rastatter, director of policy for the National Industrial Transportation League, which represents major shippers. Rastatter said the shipper community believed that Norfolk Southern would do better in the Conrail merger than CSX, but the reverse seems to be true.

"We have had some irregularities in our service area," said Stephen C. Tobias, Norfolk Southern's vice chairman. "There's no denial here." But Tobias said it was his sense that service was already improving. Several shippers also said they believe Norfolk Southern will work through the problems.

Tobias said many of Norfolk Southern's problems "have to do with the learning curve" of absorbing a railroad. He said he would be "reluctant to pin the tail on any issue," but that clearly Norfolk Southern had suffered some problems with its computer and information technology programs.

Michael Ward, executive vice president of CSX, said that his company also had had some problems, but nothing beyond "the normal kind of stuff. Really, we've gotten off to a solid foundation. We're fine-tuning and debugging. It will probably take a full month to adjust."

One of CSX's advantages appeared to be unusually strong cooperation from organized labor. Sources said there is no indication of any widespread effort by former Conrail employees to sabotage Norfolk Southern, which does not have as close a bond with the former Conrail unions. But the unions have been actively working to help CSX through the transition.

NS and CSX split Conrail on June 1, leaving the East with two large rail companies stretching from Canada to the Gulf Coast. On the evening of May 31, most of all three railroads' computers were shut down to load Conrail's data into the NS and CSX systems. But a Norfolk Southern technician loaded test data instead, causing a daylong delay in restoring the computers.

Despite the mix-up, both NS and CSX seemed to begin train operations almost flawlessly. But after a day or two, other problems began cropping up, many of them related to computer problems.

Among other things, the system that is supposed to call crews to come to work has experienced major problems, leaving some trains without crews even though rested crews were readily available. The electronic data interchange system that transfers information between railroads and to shippers also developed problems.

Whole trainloads of time-sensitive cars arrived at terminals with incorrect delivery codes, resulting in confusion and further train movements.

One operator of small "short line" railroads that connect with Norfolk Southern said the organization had received no information from Norfolk Southern. The operator discovered the Norfolk Southern computers were unable to accept some data from the company.

) Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), July 15, 1999.


Just a note.....my son works for a large aircraft mfgr and recently one of their major suppliers has had Y2K computer problems( their explaination) and is over 6 weeks behind in shipping. Also a daughter works for a large group of cardiac specialists and their computer system won't make appointments etc. past 12-31-99. The Docs aren't interested in fixing the problems either. Makes one feel all warm and fuzzy.

-- jaime estrada (beseme@dedo.net), July 15, 1999.


Hey, Folks, RELAXXX!!!

Either the Polly's right or the doomers are...there is no in between! Either way, It's ALL going away in January, for better or worse!!!



-- K.Stevens (kstevens@It's ALL going away in January.com), July 16, 1999.


(Hey, K.Stevens, it's hard to relax when the lives of people whom you love fiercely is at stake, you know?)

Soooo...maybe what we're seeing here is the toppling of the first domino. Ya think? YIPES! Get outta the way!! The dominoes are falling! The dominoes are falling!

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), July 16, 1999.


Actually Faith, I'm not so sure this is the first series of 'dominoe drops'. The blackout problems on the East Coast and in Kansas City might be another 'beginning'. Apparently KCPL hasn't been producing and has no available source for purchase either, due to overextended demand. They were forced to 'ration' blackouts, hope August will be cooler! They've done an admirable job of "Don't pay any attention to that man behind the curtain".

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), July 16, 1999.

I know it's not much, but my dentist just sent me reminder notices for my kids appointments in January. His office is heavily computerized.

-- Amy (leoneamy@aol.com), July 16, 1999.

Faith,

I'm not making light of the problem, only saying that it won't be long now. Most Y2K infrastructure impacts do not involve the PHYSICAL destruction of the MANUAL backups. It's just near impossible to run the computerized plants manually.

I'm still reeling from Cory's report about the Arlington-Alexandria Marshalling Yard's destruction and subsequent sale to real estate developers! In my opinion, this makes it NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE to run the railroad manually.

Faith, be afraid, be VERY afraid!!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@It's ALL going away in January.com), July 16, 1999.


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