Railroads plan pre-emptive Y2K shutdown

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 20, 1999) — Major freight railroads in North America will temporarily halt operations just before midnight this New Year’s Eve as a precaution against Year 2000 computer problems.

The railroads decided to take no changes because they are reliant on outside supplies of electricity and telecommunications, both of which may by vulnerable to Y2K programming problems.

“We are going to take a short pause to take everything down and bring it up and make sure it all functions,’ said Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. spokesman Richard Russack told Reuters regarding the old programming habit of allocation two digits for the year in dates.

Freight traffic is traditionally light or absent on any New Year’s Eve so the pause around midnight is not expected to be terribly disruptive to freight operations.

Norfolk Southern issued advice to customers Monday that it would begin suspending operations on the afternoon of Dec. 31 and restart operations beginning with selected trains early on Jan. 1. Normal operation would resume Jan. 2.