http://infoseek.go.com/Content?arn=a0985LBY420reulb-19990803&qt=%22year+2000%22+bug*+glitch*+y2k&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), August 03, 1999

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Tokyo may halt New Year's Eve trains over Y2K bug

07:03 a.m. Aug 03, 1999 Eastern

TOKYO, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Japan's biggest railway said on Tuesday it is considering briefly halting passenger trains in Tokyo around midnight on New Year's Eve to make sure they are not stranded by the Y2K computer bug.

A spokesman for East Japan Railway Co (JR East), which serves some 60 million people in the region around Tokyo as well Tohoku in northern Japan, said: ``It's a precautionary measure, in case of outside disruptions such as power outages.''

Some computers and software which use only two-digit numbers to represent years could malfunction if they interpret the zeroes in the year 2000 to mean 1900 when the year ends.

JR East's plan would involve halting roughly 250 passenger trains in the Tokyo area for about 10 minutes around midnight on December 31 to prevent them stopping on the tracks between stations.

The plan has yet to be finalised, and the company is considering whether to halt freight trains as well, the spokesman said. Bullet trains do not operate past midnight.

Other JR companies which provide passenger train services have not yet decided whether to follow suit, Kyodo news agency reported.

((Tokyo Newsroom, +813 3432-8018)

tokyo.newsroom+reuters.com))

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), August 03, 1999.

No trains in Tokyo means everybody has to stay home,

There are not enough cars to get everybody home after midnite. It is lockdown city...

Ahhh Secretary, Cancel my trip to Japan.

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), August 03, 1999.