http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/03/japan.y2k.ap/

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Japan railway may halt trains to avoid Y2K problems August 3, 1999 Web posted at: 11:49 AM EDT (1549 GMT)

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's largest railway company may temporarily halt most train service just before midnight on Dec. 31 as a precaution against possible year 2000 computer failures, a spokesman said Tuesday.

East Japan Railway Co. may stop some 250 late-night passenger trains at stations during the final minutes of 1999 and first minutes of 2000 to ensure that no passengers are stranded between stations if a computer failure should occur, said company spokesman Masahiko Horiuchi.

The planned stoppage would affect mostly trains in and around metropolitan Tokyo and would last no more than about 10 minutes, Horiuchi said. The company will decide by the end of August if the measure is necessary, he said.

Shinkansen, or "bullet" train schedules would not be affected because they stop running before midnight, he said.

The Y2K, or millennium bug, problem refers to the way many computers were programmed to recognize only the last two digits of a year. Many worry computers around the world could fail on Jan. 1, 2000, because machines might assume it is 1900.

JR East has finished testing all trains and ticket machines for Y2K glitches and doesn't expect any problems, Horiuchi said.

Testing has shown there is no possibility that a Y2K-related computer failure could cause a train collision or derailment, he said.

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), August 09, 1999