http://www.y2ktoday.com/modules/home/default.asp?id=1582 (for research/educational purposes) Rail System Disruptions Reported

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

-- fake (fake@out.com), June 09, 1999

Answers

"Rail System Disruptions Reported"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/business/feed/business928925963102.htm

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), June 09, 1999.

Can't happen here! Things are looking better everyday. Good news is everywhere. oooooooopps ! Wonder what happens when this happens to all the rail systems in the country at the same time. Delay's? Shortages? Nah, can't happen.

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), June 09, 1999.

Those last few paragraphs describe why it's not 01/01/2000 that's the issue, but the days and weeks following:

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.

No problems, then a few, then a few more, then some follow-ons magnified by the previous breakdowns, then some very serious stoppages, which impact other external systems, and so on...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), June 09, 1999.

A little OT, but here's a satellite picture of Croxton Yard in NJ, from TerraServer, 1995. The yard is in the center, and that's the NJ Turnpike to the left of it. The dots on the turnpike are semis.

You can click the picture and zoom in another level. That odd shaped building in the north center of the yard is where they service the engines, etc. Below that is where they assemble the "trailer trains." Above it you can see the electric towers of the NY-Phila-DC hi-speed rail line.

Ain't the web cool! <:)=

Terraserver

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 09, 1999.

OK, just for fun, let me see if I can guess what the pollyana responses will be to this news:

- Well, nobody died, the world did not end, so no real problem, just minor inconveniences.

- It DID get fixed, so fix-on-failure will work just fine.

- These sort of problems happening ALL OVER AT THE SAME TIME -- I don't understand, what does that mean?

- The impact that these sorts of problems happening all over at the same time will have ON EVERYTHING ELSE DUE TO INTERCONNECTEDNESS -- now I'm really confused. And stop using "doomer words" like interconnectedness, that is not in my vocabulary.

- And anyway, everything is on-track/on-schedule/looking-good for the latest deadline of Y2K compliance (whatever the current one is, they change so frequently....).

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), June 09, 1999.

I just had a comical vision: The railroad technician says "No problem, we'll just go manual" and he pulls on a lever and it comes off in his hand.

-- a (a@a.a), June 10, 1999.

we have to think "contingency" people... manual workarounds!!!

I have an HO scale electric train and about 25 feet of track...I figure if we can a bunch of us together who have the same kind and rig a large network of trains around uh...well, around the block...oh, but if the power goes out...uh... ok, wait... I have this really cool battery operated train and about 12 feet of track and hey, it's even a bigger than the HO train...

No problem. Just call Manuel Workaround, he'll fix it.

Mike ===============================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), June 10, 1999.

I wonder how Croxton would do if thay had to go manual??? I've been past there, this place is huge! Did you notice, about 25 switches just around the service building? Did you notice the other 20 or so sets of tracks to the left? This place makes-up trains all day long. I understand it's highly automated. I can just see it now:

Stop here, what's that car number? Ok let's look it up... ... ... OK, the Chicago train. Give me the radio. "Guy 1 throw the switch" "Guy 2 don't throw yours" "Guy 3 throw yours" ... ... Ok, go ahead. --- "This ain't the Chicago train! Guy 2 must have missed it. OK, BACK UP!"

Next... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 10, 1999.