10/8/99 -- 8:08 PM

Four largest freight haulers Y2K compliant

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Railroads hauling more than 80 percent of the nation's rail freight traffic are on the right track as they head for Jan. 1, 2000, the Transportation Department said Friday.

America's four largest freight railroads - Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific - got an early jump on immunizing their computerized systems against the millennium bug, the department said in a report.

The report - produced by a private contractor for Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and the Federal Railroad Administration - says the four railroads have quelled agencies' concerns that recent mergers might hurt readiness.

They have ``worked with their shortline railroad partners to assure shortline Y2K readiness for the new year,'' the report said of the four companies.

Many fear the millennium bug could cause widespread disaster if computers misread the year 2000 for 1900.

The report said the four railroads started checking their systems about five years ago. Computer and telecommunication systems have been thoroughly tested. The systems control operations such as car/trailer distribution, bills of lading, handling, yard management and crew calling.

The report said shippers who use the four lines ``should expect no degradation of service caused by year 2000 problems.''

Amtrak and commuter railroads insist their trains are ready. Many operate on tracks owned by freight railroads.

Rail experts have said Y2K worries should be minimal, given that older subway cars and many locomotives are not computerized. Equipment such as grade crossing signals is tripped not by time and date information but by mechanical switches thrown by an approaching train.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), October 08, 1999

Answers

I was excited to read about the railroads, until I failed to find the word COMPLIANT anywhere!!!!! Just the same old happy faced crap like the banks! Ready does not mean a thing!!!

-- freddie (freddie@thefreeloader.com), October 08, 1999.

This story should be good news to me. I should feel a sense of relief now. I should be feeling confident that the trains will continue bringing me tomatos from California, paper for my printer, and and cereal from Battle Creek, Michigan. This is just the kind of story I have been waiting for these past 18 months. Finally there is good news!

Why don't I believe a goddamned word of it?

I really want to believe it. I need to believe it. I am trying to believe it.

But I don't.

-- semper paratus (llmcl@usa.net), October 09, 1999.

Dial back 8-10 months, look west of the rocky mountains when the merger brought them to their bellies (not even stopping at their knees) and see if that plays like a group that could get it together in 8-10 months.

Night train

-- this footballer won't be hoppin freights from Hooverville to Clintontown in 2000 (nighttr@in.lane), October 09, 1999.

Did they say anything about finding all the rolling stock sitting on the sidelines (lost) since the merged company computer systems were merged? (This was on several threads here early this year.)

-- A (A@AisA.com), October 09, 1999.

Ray note this earlier post.......

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

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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.

-- Tommy Rogers (Been there@Just a Thought.com), October 09, 1999.

If apples are oranges, we have big problems. Otherwise, the comparison between merging totally different systems and fixing date mishandling bugs in a single working system has not been addressed here at all.

We can believe these expressions or optimism or not, as we see fit. But disbelieving them because of different problems with totally different issues isn't support for your disbelief. It like saying the soil might explode because dynamite explodes and the two share many elements in common!

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), October 09, 1999.

FLINT, Computer problems are management problems. Y2K is NOT just a two digit problem. Too many varibles come into play. The ICC approved this merger to be effective Sept 1, 1998. However, both CSX and NS did not impliment the split up of Conrail untill June 99. Their reasoning was to have the problems of division worked out before implimentation of merger. Sometimes the best of plans go astray I know,Yet you must wonder what was accomplished durning the 10 months delay. Merging totally different systems should have been the highest priority of management. One has to think maybe they didn't understand the differance between apples and oranges.

Norfolk Southern problems continue to this date. UPS has removed over half their freight and our power plants in the northeast are scrambling to stockpile coal for the winter months. This is a management problem and to read here about their READINESS only brings a smile having worked in this industry 37 years.

I like you Flint and appreciate your veiws, but IMHO Y2K has a much bigger picture than the fixing of date handling bugs in a single system.

Tommy

-- Tommy Rogers (Been there@Just a Thought.com), October 09, 1999.

Tommy:

We may be violently agreeing here, I think. Fundamentally, y2k is a 2- digit year problem. The fix, ultimately, requires that dates be handled properly by computer software across the rollover and into the next milennium (really, it's a century problem).

Without question, actually making these changes to the software has far-reaching ramifications. This is true because we have so *much* software, in so many different forms, platforms and applications. The management problems arise as a function of (1) getting these changes made in a timely manner; and (2) preparing to deal with all those changes that were incorrect or not timely. Any massive, expensive, mandatory task is ipso facto a management issue regardless of the actual details of the task.

But this doesn't change the fact that different tasks pose different challenges. What makes mergers complex (from a computer standpoint) is the large number of design issues, organizational issues, incompatible code and hardware issues, etc. Usually, such issues are much more difficult (and slower) to address than combing through code fixing date routines. Not always.

From my (admittedly limited) perspective, finding and fixing a killer y2k bug is FAR quicker and easier than dealing with potentially hostile new company divisions, issues of retraining personnel, or developing and implementing new protocols. These latter take a blue moon. The former might well happen in 3 days (again, not always).

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), October 09, 1999.