Virginia/Metro Feedback Gateway Virginia CSX's advice: 'Ship early and ship often' / Transportation firms plan to avoid trip-ups

Wednesday, June 2, 1999

When the world's odometer trips 2000, Virginia trucking and train companies say, they won't get tripped up.

Things will be busy, though.

"You're actually going to see shipping patterns change as people ship more late in the year to ensure they're prepared for Year 2000," said Ira Rosenfeld, spokesman for Overnite Transportation Co. in Richmond.

Major retail stores such as Wal-Mart and

Target have contacted Overnite to ensure there's plenty of stock on the shelves come Jan. 1.

Normally, most holiday shipments are done by November, with things slowing down by December.

This year, Rosenfeld said, "We believe it's going to be accelerated as people position themselves for any eventuality. They don't look at just Dec. 31. They look at the first two weeks of January."

Most major trucking and rail companies say they've been testing their computers to guard against the so-called Y2K problem (for Year 2000).

"We're not worried about our equipment, but what happens if others' don't operate," Overnite's spokesman said.

Broughton Bracewell, director of the Y2K project at CSX Corp., said most of the Richmond-based railroad's customers are completing their end-of-year plans.

"We've started to make customers aware that the busiest time of the year is November to early December," Bracewell said.

Car makers, chemical companies and other rail shippers have to let the railroad know by July what their plans are.

"Ship early and ship often," Bracewell advised.

Bracewell said he has used 300 people, mostly in India and Ireland, to change the computer codes and do the other work required to make sure computers don't confuse dates at the end of the year.

The railroad also has checked on-board laptops and computers that run signals and crossing arms.

"We're comfortable the dispatch system functions past 2000," he said.

CSX has spent about $82 million on its Year 2000 computer upgrades and checks.

"We've worked in a very methodical manner for two years fixing this," Bracewell said.

Charles W. Moorman, vice president of information technology at Norfolk Southern Corp., also said he's confident the trains will keep running on time.

"I don't foresee any shipping problems at Norfolk Southern or in the rail industry," he said.

-- Chip Jones

Richmond Times-Dispatch

-- Lee (lplapin@hotmail.com), June 02, 1999

Answers

We've already noticed an increase in rail traffic as the tracks are close to house. Lots of looong trains going both ways sometimes two at a time.

-- Johnny (JLJTM@BELLSOUTH.NET), June 02, 1999.