Original article is in German Link "http://www2.zeit.de/zeit/tag/aktuell/199948.y2k-serie_.html"

In Short: All are talking about Y2K - German Railway Co #Deutsche Bahn# does not.

This might be because they have already mentioned, that they will not be able to fix this issue because remidiation process had been started to late.

This very big company started in mid 97 thinking about Y2K with starting of counting their it-inventory in 1998. This was #mostly done by April 1999#.

After spending more than 300 million for remidiation efforts they havn't yet implemented the repaired code for their administrative systems. Checking of systems along the railway's net is still ongoing while Uwe Herz, Co's speaker told in Berlin that this is far more complex than all other issues.

Wrong Y2K compliance certification by suppliers, which had to be doublechecked created delay.

After stating all this Uwe Herz ensured the press once more that the Deutsche Bahn feels secure about their systems while not being able to give a 100% garuantee. #We have succesfully tested our systems and railway network# , he explained.

The question #how the Deutsche Bahn has tested railway systems out of 9 centuries, hundreds of suppliers and thousands of different traffic control devieces# was answered by him: #cannot be explained in detail. We have set things back to zero, done#

There had been single systms tested - but never an all including simulation of the roll over. Embedded systems havn't played any roll in their remidiation process even if these are used in all kinds of controling instruments / devices. The contingenxy planning will be done during December (No Tests) only covering single systems and components - not the entire system as the Deutsche Bahn does not expect any domino effects.

But one is for true: on December 31 all trains will stop right before the roll over. #Trains will have to stop in railway stations#, Uwe Herz said, #because power supply might not be reliable#.

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Guyz,

if this is true for the states as well, how does the coal comes to the power factories.

-- Rainbow (Rainbow@123easy.net), November 28, 1999

Answers

Danke, Rainbow

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), November 28, 1999.

They're toast!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), November 28, 1999.

Norfolk Southern & Contrail: About 6 months ago, their site only had the "risk" paragraph for y2k disclosures. Looks like they hired someone to do it right, cause they have new graphics and pages of info. Funny thing to me is all the new info doesn't say much, and the risk paragraph continues to glare out. Must be somethin' wrong w/my eyes: =========

http://www.nscorp.com/nscorp/html/y2k-10k.html

Risks  Failure to achieve Year-2000 compliance -- by NS, other railroads, its principal suppliers and customers, and certain financial institutions with which it has relationships -- could negatively affect NS' ability to conduct business for an extended period. Unanticipated delays in either the Conrail systems integration effort or the Year-2000 project could adversely affect NS' ability to complete the other. Management believes that NS will be successful in its Year-2000 compliance effort; however, there can be no assurance that all NS information technology systems and components will be fully Year-2000 compliant. In addition, other companies on which NS systems and operations rely may or may not be fully compliant on a timely basis, and any such failure could have a material adverse effect on NS' financial position, results of operations, or liquidity.

State of readiness  For mainframe systems (data center infrastructure, purchased or leased software, and mainframe applications), remediation and unit testing for business-critical systems are in the final stages. Systems testing and implementation began in February 1999, and both are expected to be substantially completed in June 1999 but require use of the same resources needed for testing related to the Conrail transaction (see "Joint acquisition of Conrail," above).

For most business-critical nonmainframe and enterprise systems, assessment has been completed. Remediation of some systems has begun, and completion for all business-critical systems is expected by April 1999. Testing and implementation will follow with expected completion for business-critical systems by mid-year 1999.

NS also has initiated formal communications with third parties having a substantial relationship to its business (including other railroads, significant suppliers, larger customers, and financial institutions) to determine the extent to which NS may be vulnerable to any such third party's failure to achieve Year-2000 compliance. Thus far, NS has no information that indicates that a significant third party may be unable to provide goods or services or to request NS' services because of Year-2000 issues.

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), November 28, 1999.

How does one say "toast" in German?

Now how does one say "burnt toast" in German?

-- profit of doom (doom@helltopay.ca), November 28, 1999.

More from the article: "the... trains underway that night will head for train stations and stay there for 10 minutes". They will not be allowed to stop on between stations or in tunnels.--- That alone is a nice logistics problem. So is the restart after "10 minutes!" "France will stop for 45 minutes, Belgium will stop dead at 10PM." I guess what comes after that is the fastest "fix-on failure" we have ever seen. Further: "a secret tip for catching the less crowded trains during the holiday rush is to take trains on Christmas Eve, New Years Eve[!} and New Years[!] -By observation: all High Speed Locomatives have an Ad painted on their sides: "Year-2000 World Fair in Hannover".- I have also read an eariler article (clipped by sis in Germany) that "German Thoroughnes will not permit bad Y2k effects". Sounded already familiar then: "American Ingenuity will prevent..." (Hey, we were FIRST with out statement here!) Watching from afar.

-- W (me@home.now), November 29, 1999.

There's only one railroad system (company)in Germany and it is state- owned. The following is an excerpt from 'Die Zeit', a respected nationwide newspaper:

"Es habe am Anfang Probleme gegeben, weil die Lieferanten f|r Zugleittechnik oder Steuerungssysteme die Jahr-2000-Festigkeit zusicherten. In Tests stellte sich aber das Gegenteil heraus. Die Zertifikate der Hersteller waren oft wertlos. Nicht einmal juristisch gelten sie als Garantien"

Roughly translated says:

"it gave problems at the start, because the suppliers for railroad instrumentation and guidence systems assured their Y2K-readiness. Tests showed however that the opposite was true. The vendor certificates were often worthless. Legally they are not even considered as warranties".

Question:

How many of our Y2K compliance statements are also based on such false vendor certifications? I bet 100,000's!

-- Not Again! (seenit@ww2.com), November 30, 1999.