[FAA99]
Jeff Steeves and Deric Corwin
Dartmouth College Computer Science
March 15, 1999
"You are the infrastructure. People do depend on the services
your systems provide. And, in many instances, there are no substitutes
readily available, and so, when you go down, they go down." -- Michael
Aisenberg, Keynote Address, APTA Year 2000 Survival Workshop, January 21,
1999 [Ais99]
For the transportation industry, the systems that could be effected by Y2K are spread over a variety of technologies. Since transportation relies heavily upon machines with electromechanical systems and hardware controlling devices, embedded chips and firmware make the industry very vulnerable to Y2K issues. Many of the organizations involved with transportation have large networks of computers set up to help with scheduling and routing, which is extremely time-sensitive. The commercial end of the industry is also tied to inventory databases that require date specifications for their integrity. Systems that might be affected by Y2K will include everything with a digital date/time readout, everything that responds differently on the weekends than it does on weekdays, and everything that requires an event to occur at intervals or cycles based on time calculations [LIR98]. Not all embedded chips and computer applications have dates built in, of course. But it's not always obvious which ones do, so companies need to assess every system they use to make sure all are Y2K compliant [Gai98]. Organizations are at various levels of preparedness for possible problems, including fixes, testing, and/or contingency planning.
As we shall show, the fixes for the Y2k-related technical problems in transportation systems are usually straightforward, but their discovery and interdependence with other systems makes the entire solution extremely complex. For example, transportation will be affected by what happens in the utility, communication, telecom, finance, and government sectors. Power is necessary for running electric trains, keeping computers up, and providing the energy for traffic signals. Tracking goods or dispatching help to accident scenes is impossible without a reliable communications system. The depth of integration between transportation and these sectors is something that all organizations are concerned about. Many of the players in transportation and other industries have only recently begun to view this as a management problem rather than a technological one. This has caused a great deal of valuable time to be lost in the race towards a compliant transportation infrastructure.
Ultimately, only good management and planning will keep Y2K from being a disaster on the scale that some extremists have predicted. Not all systems are going to be compliant by the time the year 2000 begins to affect them, so all organizations will have to have appropriate contingency planning, in case failures occur in the systems they usually depend on. Transportation organizations also need to have a plan for continuing to update and fix failing systems after the failures begin.
In the next section we provide some background on the Y2K problem and
specific technology issues facing the transportation industry. In
section 3 we discuss the aviation industry. Sections 4 and 5 address
the complicated issues invloved in transit at the urban, state, and federal
levels. A case study for a state Department of Transportation is
included as part of section 5. In section 6 we examine the impact
of Y2K on commerce and shipping. Finally, in section 7 we draw several
conclusions and note key concerns facing the industry as a whole.
The Year 2000 (Y2K) date processing problem stems from the use of
two-digit year fields instead of four digit year fields in software, hardware,
and firmware. This problem will affect Intelligent and Automated
Data Processing systems attempting to calculate against the year "00" not
recognizing that the year is actually 2000. The resulting inaccuracies
in date-related calculations will generate corrupt data results and potentially
cause computer systems to fail entirely. Also, if erroneous information
goes unrecognized, the problem could be perpetuated through interfaces
with other automated information systems. While this is the crux
of the problem, it is more complex; many systems have faulty date logic
that does not recognize that the Y2K is a leap year, other systems have
triggers that are executed based on specific values of date fields, and
others have overflow or rollover problems [DOT99].
The Year 2000 technology crisis involves computer software and hardware on the one hand and date sensitive embedded systems on the other. For transportation organizations requiring scheduling or routing, mainframes or PC networks are responsible for keeping track of which vehicles should be where and when. They also send the signals to physical switches in the case of rail transportation. PC's and mainframes keep track of cargo and freight goods, passenger lists, and ticket reservations in large databases as well. These all involve date-sensitive applications.
Much of the machinery in the transportation industry includes some sort of embedded system. The following definition of embedded systems is taken from the United Kingdom's Action 2000 web site: "Embedded systems contain programmed instructions running via processor chips... They perform control, protection, and monitoring tasks... In broad terms embedded systems are programmable devices or systems which are generally used to control or monitor things like processes, machinery, environments, equipment, and communications." [] According to Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. Director of Special Projects, George Washington University Center, "Those addressing Year 2000 challenges have typically focused on the hardware and software and have too often failed to fully understand and acknowledge the challenges and threats posed by date sensitive embedded systems." [Pal99] This seems to be indicative of the state of the transportation industry.
It is estimated that there may be from 10 to 25 billion embedded systems
in existence. It is known that some small percentage of these are date
sensitive. Of these a small, but significant percentage are not Year 2000
compliant. Estimates range from 0.2% to over 1%. That would mean that from
20 million to 250 million embedded systems failures could occur owing to
the Year 2000-related non-compliance problems [Gar99].
The transportation industry certainly will see its share of these failures
over a range of its embedded systems.
Aviation is by far the most complex and automated transportation
sector. As a result, air travel has received an extensive amount of publicity
about issues related to the Year 2000 problem. Society today is extremely
reliant on the airline industry and that dependency is growing. In the
year 2000, 639 million people are expected to take a flight, more than
ever before in aviation history. The importance of the airline industry
emphasizes the importance of ensuring that the industry is prepared to
handle the Year 2000 problem.
The airline industry is extremely complex. It is made up of independently owned and operated airlines, airports, and support companies that must all work together to provide safe and timely services. This interdependence among companies is only one of the many special challenges facing the industry in its efforts to deal with the Y2K problem. In addition, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has outlined several characteristics of the airline industry that make it special.
The first is the industryís extensive use of automated systems. The airlines have always been at the forefront of using computers to support their business functions, starting with the introduction of the first high-performance reservations systems in the 1960s. Since then, computers have been introduced into all areas of the companies, providing essential support to the entire business, ensuring high levels of customer service, and providing the means for introducing new strategic initiatives.
As noted above, the industry is highly integrated. In order to function effectively, the airlines rely heavily on the exchange of information to support their business processes. The industry has much higher interaction between individual companiesí systems (e.g. for reservations, check-in, baggage, etc.) than most other sectors. This places an additional level of complexity on efforts to address Y2K and means that a key component will be ensuring that all the standards for interchanging such data are examined to determine what action is required with regard to dates.
In addition, the airline industry is characterized by worldwide, round-the-clock operations. By the nature of the industry, critical airline systems need to be operational 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Even short interruptions to system availability can cause major inconvenience to customers; longer "outages" would have serious business implications.
Finally the airline industry has a very high profile. Airlines are generally considered as "high-profile" companies that receive considerably more interest and media attention than some other business sectors. Speculation on the impact of the year 2000 on the airlines tends to be much more sensational than for other industries [Tat98].
These special considerations illustrate a portion of the concerns facing
the whole industry. In addition to these considerations each individual
company and organization must make an effort to ensure that their systems
work appropriately.
One type of company in the airline industry is airplane manufacturers
who supply the planes to the airlines. Despite the fact that modern commercial
airplanes are filled with computers, this is not an area of great concern.
"Boeing airplanes will continue to fly safely when the clock strikes midnight
in the year 2000," said Walt Gillette, leader of engineering and product
development for the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group. Few airplane equipment
items are date-sensitive; the few that are date-sensitive do not affect
the flight operations of the airplane. An extensive analysis of thousands
of Boeing-built and supplier-provided equipment items determined that only
three were date-sensitive. The systems affected involve the onboard navigation
database found in the flight management computers or inertial navigation
systems on some 737, 747, 757, 767, MD-80 and MD-90 models, based on their
delivery configurations [Boe98]. Airline manufacturers
Boeing and Airbus Industries officials have assured United Airlines and
other commercial carriers that their aircraft have no safety or flight
issues that will be affected [Cor99].
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the government organization
that is responsible for overseeing domestic air travel and most importantly
is in charge of operating and maintaining the air traffic control operations
for the National Airspace System (NAS). This system of air traffic control
is responsible for all commercial and military flight control and is critical
to safe air travel.
The FAA has faced the most public scrutiny and criticism of any government organization as a result of their late start dealing with the Year 2000 problem. On February 4, 1998 Kenneth Mead, the Inspector General for the US Department of Transportation, presented a report to the US House of Representatives containing concerns about the FAAís Y2K preparedness. "FAA got a very late start on fixing Year-2000 computer problems. It was not until about 6 months ago that FAA began addressing the Year-2000 issue with a sense of urgency. Consequently, FAA is behind schedule on assessing which of its systems have Year-2000 problems, determining what needs to be fixed, and testing and implementing solutions." [Mea98]
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey has acknowledged that the agency was seriously late in beginning its Y2K program, but the FAA now believes it is ahead of other US government departments in tackling the problem [Ren98]. In response to the criticism, the FAA established a Year 2000 Program Office under the direction of Ray Long to deal with issues related to the Year 2000. The office has been organized to coordinate all of the organizationís efforts. The following figure shows the structure of the Year 200 Program Office, which oversees operations in all of the FAA departments.
This office has stated that safety is the FAAís most important concern and that their overall goal is to ensure that the National Airspace System operates safely through the Year 2000 and beyond. The Year 2000 Program Office has outlined several steps that have been taken toward achieving that goal:
1. A schedule has been established that requires all FAA systems (including the NAS) to be Year 2000 compliant by June 30th, 1999.Lastly, the FAA would reduce air traffic capacity before compromising the safety of the National Airspace System. [FAA99]2. To augment existing operational contingency plans for the NAS, Year 2000 contingency plans are being developed for each FAA system. These contingency plans detail alternate courses of action in the event of system outages due to Year 2000 issues.
3. In addition, an agency level Year 2000 contingency plan is being developed.
In addition the Program Office has set up the following five stage plan
for handling possible Y2K issues:
The program office has also established a timeline for the FAA to achieve
Year 2000 compliance:
However, there are still many critics of the FAA and their progress in addressing the Y2K bug. "If you visit the FAAís special Y2K web site, you might forget that there ever was a problem. Itís full of cozy reassurances and an ambitious timetable, the upshot being that everything is going smoothly and that all 'mission critical' systems will be compliant by June 30, 1999, " stated one recent critic [Ore99]. Indeed, there do appear to be a number of conflicting reports and press releases detailing the progress that has been made.
A recent Time Digital article reports that the biggest problem facing the FAA is the IBM model 3083 mainframes at the core of the FAAís computer system. These computers were built back in the 1970ís but still form the backbone of the FAAís long-distance control system. They control the information displays at 20 centers throughout the country that take over the control of air traffic at 60 miles from takeoff and handle all longer-range air traffic in the U.S.
In October of 1997, IBM reported that "the appropriate skills and tools do not exist to conduct a complete Year 2000 test assessment of the IBM model 3083." In response to this problem, the FAA has decided to replace the system and in January reported that the first center had been upgraded. However, 19 centers still remain and there are concerns that the FAA will not finish the upgrade in time. The last time the FAA undertook a project to replace this many systems, the project took 3 years to complete. The FAA admits that the replacement systems may not be ready in time and as a contingency have "completed renovations" of the existing system. However, IBM had said that the skills did not exist to even assess the 3083 systems.
The key to this discrepancy lies in the FAAís definition of "renovations." The FAA has only simulated repairs on a simulated version of its computer system. While simulations are useful, they are very different than performing actual repairs. These repairs will be complicated by the fact that the actual FAA machines have been independently maintained, upgraded, and altered by separate groups of technicians at nearly 200 separate locations across the country since the 1970s. Differences that have evolved between these systems may require that each system be fixed individually [Ore99].
Another disturbing discrepancy appears in a September 29, 1998, statement by FAA Administrator Jane Garvey. Garvey told a joint meeting of two house committees that the FAA expected to have about 99 percent of its computer systems renovated to deal with the Year 2000 computer problem by September 30, 1998. She also reported that testing to make sure all systems are working properly already has begun [Bur98]. However, other reports indicate that the FAA is not near the 99 percent Y2K compliance mark, and even the FAAís own timeline shows that date for full renovations is September 30, 1999, a full year after Garvey reported that the system was expected to be 99 percent renovated.
Overall, the FAA is expected to spend about $186.7 million fixing its
systems [Cor99].
The nationís airports are also key players in the airline industry
since they serve as the entry and exit points to the National Airspace
System. There are 670 certified airports in the United States. While much
attention has been centered on the FAAís ability to guarantee that the
air traffic control system will continue to operate safely and efficiently
during and after the millennium date change, less attention has been focused
on the readiness of the nationís airports.
For example, in Phoenix, the FAA operates virtually all of the airportís navigation systems, but the city of Phoenix has 17 systems that are critical to the operation of the airportís three terminals. Airfield lighting, fire control, security, communications, baggage handling, elevators, electrical power, air conditioning and heating, shuttle buses, parking garages, and flight information display systems are all dependent on computers [Cor99]. Breakdowns in these vital systems could disrupt an airportís ability to move aircraft and travelers safely and efficiently. In addition, delays at one airport could affect the traffic at other airports and create gridlock throughout the system.
On January 29th of this year, the General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report to Congress on the status of airportsí efforts to prepare for the year 2000. The GAO examined questionnaire responses from 334 airports. One-third of the airports reported that they would meet the June 30, 1999 date the FAA recommended to complete preparations for addressing the Year 2000 date change. Another one-third did not report that they would meet this date but had begun contingency planning to help ensure continued operations if equipment malfunctions. A final one-third did not meet either of these criteria. This final third consist mostly of small airports, but does include 9 of the nationís 50 largest airports [GAO99].
A serious area of concern is the progress of foreign countries.
The FAA has allowed the International Air Transport Association and International
Civil Aviation Organization to take the lead in ensuring that non-US airlines,
airports, and air traffic service providers are Y2K-capable. But the Department
of Transportation is unlikely to hand over its responsibility for protecting
US citizens, and is expected to issue advisories warning against travel
to countries unable to prove their Y2K compliance ó much as it today posts
warning of inadequate airport security [Ren98].
The Department of State has already issued one such advisory: "All U.S. citizens planning to be abroad in late 1999 or early 2000 should be aware of the potential for problems and stay informed about Y2K preparedness in the location where they will be traveling. The Department of State will provide more specific information periodically as it becomes available. By October 1, 1999 our Consular Information Sheets on individual countries will contain specific information, as available, on the Y2K preparations in each country." [DOS99]
It is likely that airlines will have to avoid areas that have not taken
the necessary safety measures. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines says it might have
to ground part of its fleet on Dec 31, 1999, because some airports and
air traffic control systems have failed to deal with millennium computer
bug problems. KLM says it would be ready to fly on Jan 1, 2000, but too
many countries are failing to take adequate steps to ensure their systems
were ready. Max Rens, KLMís head of information noted, "We donít trust
the governments. We think that they are too late. They are not proactiveÖ
Iím fearful we will not be ready in time; there will be delays and detours.
Planes will stay on the ground, and this means capital will not be generating
money. Within half a year, some airlines will be facing bankruptcy." [Ska98]
The travel industry has already passed one of its first major hurdles.
February 4, 1999 was the first day on which most airlines began to accept
reservations for flights on January 1, 2000. The major electronic reservation
agencies had been preparing their systems for months and reported no problems
as travelers began making reservations for flights in the year 2000 [Osw99].
Urban transit consists of traffic flow systems for busses, cars,
and other automobiles, as well as the METRO/subway systems and commuter
rails. These areas rely mainly on embedded processors and scheduling
or routing systems for their mission critical processes. To get an
idea of the size of an urban public transit network and how large an impact
it has, consider the following statistics regarding the Washington Metropolitan
Area Transit Authorityís (WMATA) complexity:
Traffic signals are mission critical, as they immediately affect the safety and efficiency of traffic flow on city roads. If control systems fail to determine the correct time, the signal patterns could cause backups at intersections. During the weekdays and during hours when the traffic is heavy, the signals are run on a carefully regulated schedule to maximize the flow. During weekends and late at night, these systems often revert to an event-triggered mode of operation, so the signals only change when automobiles approach the intersection. Mixing these modes of operation with the wrong set of traffic demands could lead to major backups and cause drivers to become frustrated and possibly unpredictable or reckless.
Traffic signals will be working properly for most major cities, as this is a problem that has been well known among transit departments. Traffic control signalling is also a function that does not rely on any outside systems other than the power grid. The relative isolation of traffic signal systems has made it easier to do testing such as the simulation conducted by the traffic control center at Montgomery County, Md. on December 21st, 1998. They set their system clocks to read 11:58 p.m., December 31, 1999, and monitored the county's 700 traffic signals on a viewing screen. The signals continued to function normally after the simulation of midnight January 1, 2000 [Yom99]. Most departments can test their signals in this manner and be assured that as long as power continues to reach the traffic lights and the computers that switch them, the control systems will work as simulated.
Reversible lanes are another part of automotive traffic control that use embedded systems similar to those used in traffic lights. Reversible lanes are switched by electronic lane markers to change the direction depending on the expected traffic flow at given periods of the day or week. For the reasons given above, major bottlenecks and backups could occur in city traffic if dates are not interpreted correctly by these systems. Reversible lanes are not as common as traffic lights, but they require similar fixes for their control systems.
Many new parking meters are digitized and have time-sensitive embedded processors to keep track of the time remaining on the meter. These are not considered mission critical, and most may not even be affected by the millennium rollover, as they are dependent on the time only, not the date. Meters and timestamp-checkers in parking garages have the same issues, and are likely to be time-sensitive only, not date-sensitive.
Other problems in automotive traffic include the reliance on other services
like fuel delivery and snow plowing. If there is a disruption in
these services, roads may not be open or vehicles may not be available
for use. As we will discuss in Section 6, it is quite possible that
there will be a shortage of gasoline due to problems with ships that bring
it from the Middle East or delays transporting it from ports to remote
service stations. Karen Watkins, of Lockheed Martin, suggests that
fuel availability may be questionable. She believes that only 10% of what
we are used to will be available. [Wat99]
For METRO, subways, and commuter rails, there are five major types
of systems that could be affected by Y2K: scheduling, routing switches,
ticketing and fare collection, environment controls, and elevators and
escalators. These systems incorporate many different pieces of computer
equipment, as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) discovered
when it conducted a broad inventory of its computer systems. Among
the many systems of the 6,500-employee agency are: one mainframe computer,
which is too old to be upgraded; off-the-shelf software, and software
specifically written for the authority; hundreds of personal computers;
and so-called embedded systems, or computer systems buried throughout the
mechanical and electrical operations of the transportation network [Pal99].
Scheduling plays a major role in the safe operation of subways and commuter rails. As with air traffic control, scheduling is highly automated through the use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for these modes of transportation. Software on a mainframe keeps track of the trains and sends stop and go signals to the drivers. One system that involves commuter rail schedules for the MBTA isn't even close to being ready for 2000, though its operation does not affect safety, according to MBTA officials [Pal99]. The physical switches on the tracks are also triggered by computer as part of ITS.
Ticketing databases and embedded processors in the machines that print tickets and collect fares are also subject to Y2K problems. They rely on interfacing with the scheduling software and are mission-critical in nature. According to Rick Stern, of the American Public Transit Association (APTA) Fare Collection Committee, most of the bus farebox systems in the US were delivered prior to 1995. He says, "There haven't been that many entirely new systems during the last few years. Most systems were made by GFI, and used their DOS-based proprietary data system (DOS 6.x and earlier). Almost by definition, then, they are not Y2k compliant." Stern goes on to say that although the fareboxes are probably not date sensitive, since all they get from the data system is time, the data system computer and proprietary GFI software are date sensitive and may be unpredictable after 12/31/99 [Ste98]. Some ticketing systems have already begun to display problems, however, as a transit information systems manager for a large US transit property recently noted: "On Jan. 1, 1999, our Ticket Vending Machines experienced a problem that resulted in reduced fare revenues for several days. The problem was that the system checked the year, and since it was 99 (a default value), it assumed there was an error, and caused problems with the ticket prices." [PCG99]
Environmental controls such as heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and lighting are all run off time-dependent processors to provide a comfortable and safe environment for employees and passengers. Elevators and escalators also contain embedded systems which are time-sensitive. Providing a safe passenger car or station environment is as important as keeping the rail cars moving. Most of these systems aren't hard to fix, but have been left out of many transit organizations' analyses.
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) says its systems engineering department has already made its train control and automatic fare collection systems compliant. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) on the other hand said in January that has only recently realized the potential problems that may occur in operational systems such as fare boxes, elevators and building environments controls. A representative for WMATA stated that now that the focus has shifted towards operational systems it expects "this area to move swiftly toward compliance." [IAC99] The MBTA has separated its work into four categories. Operations like subway signals are considered safety-sensitive, escalators and elevators are mission-critical, payroll and accounting are deemed business-essential, and systems which print dates at the top of routine reports are considered nonessential items. Deputy general manager of the MBTA, Philip Puccia, says the control center is "Y2K compliant... The same service we run on Dec. 31, 1999, is the same service we'll run on Jan. 1, 2000." [Pal99]
Apparently thousands and thousands of lines of computer code still need to be read, rewritten, and tested by the MBTA. Personal computers throughout the system, some well over 10 years old, need to be fixed or, more likely, replaced. Embedded processors stuck in monitoring and control systems throughout the MBTA's network are also in need of compliance testing and upgrade [Pal99]. This lack of progress, especially in the embedded processor area, has some people concerned about the reliability of public transportation in the Boston metro area come next January.
The news from New York is more encouraging. "It has already been
determined that with the exception of diagnostic equipment on the new technology
test train, the entire subway fleet and subway signal system are not affected
by any embedded technology; that no exposures have yet been identified
to jeopardize operation of the bus fleets; that LI RR's fleet or power
system are not at risk because of embedded technology; and that Metro-North's
signal, train control system, rolling stock and radio systems are compliant."
[Con98]
State and federal transit consists of the extensive network of state
freeways and national highways as well as interstate passenger rail.
For highways, Y2K could cause problems in any of the following areas: emergency
call boxes and dispatch systems, roadside message boards, bridges, tunnels,
toll booths, or on-ramp metering. Passenger rail shares problems
with both the commercial shipping rail services and the commuter rail sector.
Passenger rail requires ticketing and fare collection devices as does commuter
rail, as well as passenger databases and scheduling/routing issues similar
to those we discuss in the section about shipping.
There are also several agencies that oversee transit from the state
and federal levels. These include the national and state Departments
of Transportation (DOTs), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the American Public Transit
Association (APTA).
Transportation officials say that call boxes along state freeways
and interstates could go haywire the moment the calendar reads Jan. 1,
2000. "These things are essentially computers on a stick," said Chris
Stephens of the Ventura County Transportation Commission [Met99].
These call boxes, which allow motorists to call for assistance in case
of breakdowns or emergencies, contain embedded chips to time-stamp the
calls. The call boxes will still be usable for such communication even
if they are not made compliant in time. What concerns transportation
officials, however, is that the boxes will not be able to record date and
time-sensitive information such as when and where the call was made from
a specific location.
California alone contains 16,000 call boxes, which Sebastian Gutierrez, the president of Comarco Wireless, the company which maintains the call boxes, has recommended be retrofitted with new hardware that will prolong the life of the stateís decade-old system at a cost of about $750 per device. "These systems were only designed to operate for about 10 years and they've already pretty much reached their life span... With the retrofit, those call boxes will be good for another 10 years and we'll be able to solve the Y2K problem," Gutierrez says [Met99].
Calls may still be put through, but emergency response to accidents could be delayed or inadequate. The 911 system uses tracking applications that rely on date sensitive information. "The enhanced portion of the system -- detailing the caller's location -- may not work if an upgrade isn't completed by 2000," said Lt. David Knott, of Linn County, Iowa, Sheriff's Department, "but emergency personnel would still be able to respond to emergency calls." A major fear remains that, if systems aren't converted in time, fire, police, ambulance and rescue units would be immobilized. "Many county-run 911 emergency response systems risk an immobilizing computer failure on Jan. 1, 2000, because half the country's counties lack plans to deal with the Y2K problem," the National Association of Counties said on December 8, 1998. The association's survey of counties found that with 390 days remaining, half the nation's 3,069 counties were without a plan to deal with potential and real computer failure caused by the year 2000 problem. The nation's 911 systems are run by either city or county authorities [Gaz98]. If the 911 tracking systems go down or traffic flow for emergency vehicles is sufficiently hindered by other effects of Y2K, freeways and interstates may see longer backups around accident scenes and the public safety would be significantly jeopardized.
Message boards on the sides of the highways report traffic information,
such as delays and warnings about reduced speed or construction.
Some of this information is sensitive to the day of the week and hour of
the day or relies on traffic monitoring systems that may have Y2K problems.
Traffic control for bridges, tunnels, toll booths, and ramp metering rely
on embedded management systems. These, like the environment systems
for urban transit, are mission-critical systems that may not have problems
but have been overlooked by many organizations.
Passenger rail is another area where time sensitive systems could
wreak havoc on scheduling and traffic flow. Many of the switches
for train tracks employ embedded chips and are reliant on computer systems
that are in need of upgrading for Y2K. Passenger rail shares these
problems with both the commercial shipping rail services and the commuter
rail sector. Passenger rail also requires ticketing and fare collection
devices like most of the passenger services and public transportation.
Passenger databases and scheduling/routing issues similar to those in the
airline, commerce, and shipping sectors is another factor for passenger
rail.
One of the better known passenger train companies, Amtrak, has created
a Y2K working group and a Year 2000 Project Office to address Y2K issues.
Amtrak has completed an inventory to identify all internal and external
systems that may be affected by the Y2K issue, and "mission-critical" systems
are being tested. Amtrak is reviewing in-place contingency plans for Y2K
vulnerability and will be revising them and/or formulating additional plans
if testing of the systems indicate that this is necessary. They have
also sent a formal questionnaire to suppliers about their Y2K readiness
for continued delivery of materials, supplies, and services [Amt99].
State level Departments of Transportation are doing what they can
to remedy systems in their control, such as the embedded processors, mainframe,
and PC networked systems used for areas illustrated above. Legal
concerns are preventing State DOTís from collaborating or sharing test
results with each other, however. Many managers are concerned that
other departments will use test results for systems that are not their
own to justify not testing systems they have, or that hearing about othersí
problems may cause them to be aware of problems in their own systems.
Being aware of new problems would make that DOT legally responsible for
testing those aspects of their systems, even if they donít have the time
or funds. In this light, the response for most state DOTs has been
to look at Y2K as a business issue, not a technical one. They have
focused on the following question: How can the organization be affected
at the level of its ability to delivery a safe and bug free product or
service?
Despite the legal barriers, DOTs like Washington State DOT feel they will be ready for the millennium as long as factors out of their control, such as power outages, donít occur. In case a major failure does occur, however, WSDOTís contingency planning for Y2K is virtually identical to planning for natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, or wind storms, in which power outages are a real possibility. Les Jacobson, of WSDOT, says, "Systems fail normally. The only difference with Y2K planning is what do you do if a lot of systems fail simultaneously?" [WDT98]
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) is currently implementing
a comprehensive, top-down process to identify and test organization-wide
Year 2000 compliance. The following case study is based on an interview
ICDN's Editorial Director Jerry Werner conducted with Kathy Hofstedt, Mn/DOT's
Year 2000 Project Manager [MDT98].
Mn/DOT also does an "assessment of compliance status," checking with the vendors and any other organizations that might have conducted their own assessment of Year 2000 compliance. Even though Mn/DOT has checked with the vendors and/or third-party organizations, they still are going to do their own testing on mission critical systems.
Hofstedt says they've separated their technical products and systems into four categories: mission critical compliant, mission critical non-compliant, non-mission critical compliant, and non-mission critical non-compliant. Mn/DOT will be testing all of its mission critical systems and will be sampling the non-mission-critical systems they believe are already Y2K compliant. 'Testing' all the mission-critical systems means they will verify compliance in the field whether or not the manufacturer says its product is Year 2000 compliant. Some things, like the traffic control signals, they cannot test in the field but can test in a controlled environment.
Mission-critical systems are determined by their degree of direct impact
on the public. Traffic signal systems are a good example of direct
impact. In the case of office equipment, it depends on where these
products or systems are located. For example, some offices may indeed be
mission-critical. Offices, such as the Commissioner's, that produce
data used to make business decisions would also be mission-critical, and
Mn/DOT needs to make sure that their hardware and software is compliant.
Hofstedt says that, where possible, for custom software applications the
project teams are working with the programmer who actually wrote the code.
Mn/DOT has said that all of their desktops should be considered mission
critical. Hofstedt notes that approximately 60% to 70% of desktop
computers purchased in '97 are not compliant. She suggests that a
simple upgrade of each machine's BIOS is all that is necessary to fix these
problems, however.
Although it seems that some of the problems Mn/DOT has found would be useful to share with other state DOTs, Hofstedt says there isn't a mechanism right now because people are concerned about the legal issues involved-- liability associated with fixing or not fixing the problems. "You don't want someone to take what you've done and apply it to themselves and say 'Okay, I don't need to test it.'"
A lot of these systems are huge, and pieces of them are subcontracted out. Many contractors are hesitant to warranty compliance. "The most important thing, which was essential for us at Mn/DOT, is to look at this as a business issue and not a technical issue," said Hofstedt. "How that changes the strategy is that you tend to not just zero in on personal computers or applications -- you tend to look at every aspect of your business and what could impact every piece of your business." What happens if a business partner -- take railroads, for example, because there's a link between railroad crossings and traffic signals -- what if the railroads don't address their own Year 2000 issues? If one of Mn/DOTís suppliers' payroll system goes down, is that going to impact Mn/DOT? If Mn/DOTís suppliers don't get their deliveries from their suppliers, is that going to impact Mn/DOT? Hofstedt emphasized looking at the Y2K issue from a business perspective, a 'what can affect us?' standpoint.
Because they're so widely distributed, it was important for Mn/DOT to
take a systematic approach-- for everyone to be doing everything the same
way so they could eliminate redundant efforts. Hofstedt and The Year
2000 coordinators meet every two weeks, describe their progress and outline
what needs to be done. The state project office also puts together a Year
2000 newsletter, which Hofstedt copies to all Mn/DOT employees. Mn/DOT
also has a newsletter called Information Management and Directions that
covers a lot of things to do with information resource management, and
one of the topics is the Year 2000 issue. Mn/DOT has also put together
a Mn/DOT Intranet Year 2000 web page.
The Federal Department of Transportation (DOT) has two important
subdivisions that deal with transit in the U.S.-- the Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The FHWA has
worked with major players in the highway sector to contribute awareness
and planning for Y2K via web sites and industry conferences.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is a regulatory body that provides funding to transit agencies. It began work on Y2K in 1996 and provides information, guidance, and assistance to the transit community with regards to Year 2000 issues. The following schedule of target dates was put together by the Department of Transportation and FTA for the management of their own Y2K efforts:
| Phase: | DOT/FTA Target Date: |
| I Awareness | 12/96 |
| II Assessment | 09/99 |
| III Renovation | 09/99 |
| IV Validation | 01/99 |
| V Implementation | 03/99 |
The first phase, Awareness, focuses on promoting Y2K awareness throughout the Federal Transit Administration. Hence, the FTA is aware of the Y2K problem and has established continuous and ongoing awareness via a Y2K Office and technical and management representatives. The primary purpose of the Assessment Phase is to gather and analyze the information in order to determine the size and scope of the problem. Only after the size and scope of the problem has been determined can an estimate of the cost in terms of dollars and work years be made. This involves conducting a total inventory, evaluating each component, estimating costs, and developing renovation and contingency plans. The Renovation Phase involves making and documenting software and hardware changes, developing replacement systems, and eliminating systems. FTA components will need an extensive period of time to adequately validate and test converted or replaced system. For Y2K compliance and testing and validation process could consume over half of the Y2K program resources. Implementation of Y2K compliant systems and their components requires extensive integration and acceptance testing to ensure that all converted or replaced system components perform adequately in a heterogeneous operating environment [FTA99].
The FTA has put together an action plan similar to their own to encourage transit agencies to fix Y2K-vulnerable systems. The FTA has designed a compliance certification process which they believe will eliminate 80% or more of live system problems through thorough testing [FTA99]. All grantees must be Y2K compliant in order to receive basic FTA funding. The system includes assessing all problems by January 1999, renovating systems by March 1999, and implementing any changes by June 1999 [Pri99]. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Mortimer Downey had this to say at a workshop run by the American Public Transit Association (APTA) on January 22, 1999, "We have the authority to withhold Federal funds from grantees whose systems are not in compliance with Y2K requirements, based on the fact that each grantee must have the technical capacity to carry out a grant... The FTA has asked for letters of compliance from governing authorities with Y2K requirements as part of the grant process." [Dow99]
The Clinton Administration has also recently passed the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the FY99 Appropriations Act, which provide 40% more funding for investments in the nation's transit systems. Y2K repairs for transit systems are eligible for this federal funding through TEA-21 programs and through the FTA [Pri99]. Downey assures, "Resources are available to make the necessary Y2K repairs, and we will work to get the dollars out in a timely way." [Dow99]
The American Public Transit Association, another organization that is
spear-heading the Y2K efforts in the transit sector, consists of over 300
transit agencies, including government agencies, transit systems, transit
management companies, manufacturers and suppliers, and state departments
of transportation [APT99]. The FTA has developed
a partnership with this private industry organization, as a means to inform
the transportation community of issues brought about by the Year 2000.
The APTA sponsored a Year 2000 Survival Workshop on January 21-22, 1999,
focused on providing practical solutions for Y2K problems in the public
transit communities
[FTA99]. Also, in May
of 1998, the APTA helped the FTA to conduct a survey to determine the state
of readiness for its transit members. 162 organizations answered
the survey (a 50% response). Of those who responded, only 20 percent
were in compliance by May, 1998, and 20 percent expect not to be compliant
by January 1, 2000 [Pri99]. These figures
are disturbing, and underscore the necessity for well-developed contingency
planning.
Shipping is vital to the distribution of all goods from producers
to consumers. Food, fuel, clothing and other goods can not reach their
destinations unless the shipping industry is able to deliver them. This
sector depends on several modes of transportation including railroads,
trucking, and maritime shipping. Y2K failures in this industry could lead
to shortages of essential items and widespread economic problems.
There are a few areas of concern that are shared by all modes of shipping. The first of these is bills of lading, which are generally electronic documents that entitle a specific company or individual to ownership of goods. These documents all contain date specific information that could be vulnerable to the Year 2000 problem and could lead to a wide range of disputes and legal issues if ownership of goods came into question.
A second concern is that all the modes of modern transportation are interconnected and often all three modes of transportation will be utilized to get goods from the producers to the consumers. Thus, a failure of any one of the modes could cause serious disruptions to the entire supply chain.
Finally, modern shipping has been based on the model of just-in-time
delivery where goods are delivered frequently on an efficient schedule
to allow for smaller inventories. This model requires that delivery schedules
are very precise and relies on an extensive amount of communication to
ensure that the goods are delivered when and where they are needed. Because
of this model, small glitches due to the Year 2000 Problem could cause
factories or stores to run out of critical goods.
Railroads form the backbone of domestic commercial shipping. There
are over 700 railroads in the United States, along with over 220,000 miles
of track. Railroads are used to transport all sorts of goods from food
and fuel to raw materials and consumer goods. Fortunately, railroads appear
to have fewer Y2K transportation equipment problems than sectors such as
the aviation industry.
As with most large businesses, major railroads have large internal business systems that need to be assessed and fixed. It is estimated that each of the major railroad companies has 40 to 50 million lines of COBOL code in its business systems. Union Pacific Railroad, the largest railroad company, reports that it finished certification of all its mainframe systems in 1998. The company also reports that all of their critical client-server applications were certified compliant in 1998 and that of the remaining systems, 50% are complete with 100% scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 1999 [UPR99].
According to a Senate Special Committee report released this year, the most commonly cited operational problem is in train dispatching software. This software is responsible for scheduling trains and in some cases controlling the electromagnetic switches on the tracks to direct trains to their destination. The Committee staff was informed by the train companies that even if all this software were not repaired, the outcome would pose a capacity problem, but not a safety concern [Sen99]. The electromagnetic switches themselves became a concern when a witness testified before the Senate Banking Committee that virtually none of the existing railroad switches are manually switchable and that they are controlled by embedded chips that are likely to pose substantial Y2K problems. However, the Senate Special Committee report indicates that fears about these switches are ill founded. Multiple sources informed the committee that all switches have manual overrides. In addition, the signaling and warning systems on tracks are all event driven and do not appear to be a safety concern. In the unlikely event of a Y2K failure of these systems, work-around procedures are in place for continued safe operation of the railroad, although with diminished capacity [Sen99].
Another area of potential Y2K concern is in the rolling stock and equipment that carries goods along the tracks. According to the Federal Railroad Administrationís assessment, the United States railroad industry collectively owns approximately 20,000 diesel-electric locomotives. Sixty-five percent of these were built before 1985 and have no on-board electronics. Only those locomotives built since 1985 have on-board microprocessors. The two principal U.S. manufacturers of locomotives, General Motors and General Electric, are checking to ensure that there are no Y2K problems associated with embedded microprocessors. The only issues reported so far are associated with fault reporting systems and do not affect actual locomotive operations [FRA99].
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is a trade association that represents the 8 Class I freight railroads that account for 91% of total U.S. freight railroad revenue, 89% of employees, and 71% of miles operated. Their operations span all states other than Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii. The AAR performed a Y2K readiness assement of these railroads in January 1999. The study found that each of these large railroads has been actively engaged in a Year 2000 readiness project for several years with defined milestones and accountability. The Chief Executives of each railroad receive regular status reports. Senior management sponsorship and involvement is typical, since electronic information systems play a key role in meeting customer requirements and productivity goals in large-scale railroading today. The study found that the 8 large railroads spent $150 million on their Year 2000 projects through December 1998 and expect to spend $225 million overall [AAR99].
The AAR study examined 16 types of specific rail equipment from grade-crossing signals to draw bridges and tunnel ventilation systems. Many of these were found to have no year 2000 issues. For the systems that may be affected, the AAR lists specific fixes and schedules for their completion. In addition, the study found that all railroads are actively pursuing development of contingency plans. These plans are generally based on previously developed business continuity and disaster recovery plans and cover the following areas:
There are over 400,000 trucking companies registered with the department
of motor vehicle agencies in the United States. Many of these companies
have fewer than 20 trucks in their operation. This mode of shipping is
vital since 77 percent of all communities rely solely on trucking to provide
essential goods. The trucking industry has also become increasingly reliant
on technology and electronic data interchange to conduct business transactions.
Trucking is faced with many of the same problems as the railroad companies since they also have complex business systems used to dispatch and track shipments. However, trucking companies tend to be much smaller and rely less on automated business systems. Trucking is most effected by the process of just-in-time inventory management. Many trucking companies have become mobile warehouses that need a dependable stream of up-to-date information in order to effectively service customers. If communications systems fail, the trucks may not be able to supply goods on the necessary schedules.
Due to the abundance of smaller companies, it appears that the industry
has not made too much progress in dealing with the Year 2000 problem. Bill
Webb, president of the Texas Motor Transportation Association recently
reported that, "The trucking industry is too concerned about the daily
movements of cargo and meeting just-in-time inventory requirements to have
given the year 2000 computer glitch much thought." [BDG99]
Maritime shipping is critically important because of our high reliance
of foreign trade. Each year the port industry, port users, and capital
expenditures for maritime equipment provides $783 billion of gross domestic
product. This industry appears to have low to moderate Y2K awareness. While
other industries around the world have been scrambling to handle the year
2000 problem, "the international maritime organization... has done almost
nothing," said John Koskinen, President Bill Clintonís Y2K adviser [BDG99].
One of the concerns in the industry is the compliance of ships and their systems. Maritime cargo shipping is somewhat unique from other transportation modes in that each ship is virtually custom-built. Thus, each must be individually inventoried and assessed for Y2K problems. Due to the long lifecycle of ships, major maritime shipping companies often have ships with a variety of ages and automation levels. Because of this wide variety, there is very little information available on how many ships are compliant. The Senate Special Committee report notes that operational safety is at greatest risk when a ship is entering or leaving port. To avoid increasing that risk due to Y2K problems, shipping operators are considering keeping ships from entering or exiting ports during the date rollover [Sen99]. Already, officials for the Panama Canal have announced that the canal will not admit ships on December 31st because itís traffic management systems may fail due to the Y2K problem [Ran99].
While most of the warnings on Y2K in the shipping industry have dealt with the potentially headline grabbing incidents of ships crashing into terminals because their navigational systems stop working on Jan 1, 2000, there could be many more subtle but equally disastrous consequences for the shipping industry. The industry is a transportation chain where ships and ports do not work in isolation, but depend on numerous other related companies to provide cargo, to refuel ships and for other operations. It is all very well for a shipping line to have Y2K compliant vessels, but if freight forwarders using them do not have Y2K compliant systems they may not be able to book cargo on the ships. Similarly the mainline operator may be able to deliver the cargo to a major port such as Singapore, but there might be no feeder vessel to take it to its eventual destination, either because the feeder operator ship has Y2K problems, or the small regional port the cargo is destined for has failed to take precautions against the millennium bug. Any number of things could go wrong at some point in the chain, causing a problem the whole way through. It goes without saying that the financial impact for companies affected would be disastrous [Han98].
Indeed, the ports appear to be the area of greatest concern due to the extensive use of electronic data interchange to book and document cargo. Customs duties, bank letters of credit, negotiable bills of lading and ship manifests are often handled electronically. Already, the U.S. Customs Service and many foreign customs organizations require data in electronic form. Scott Skillman, chief information officer of ocean carrier Crowley Maritime Corp said, "There is a concern that the governmental organizations required to clear a vessel in and out of port, including Customs, immigration, naval or Coast Guard services and/or taxing authorities, may not be able to perform their duties properly, causing bottlenecks, delays, port congestion and reduced commerce." [Rob98] In order for a ship to leave port, it must get clearance from all of these organizations. A failure of just one of them could cause serious problems for the entire port.
Domestic ports seem confident that they will be prepared by January 1, 2000 even though there are a number of issues that need to be addressed. The industry is cautious, however, because of the complicated, far-flung nature of international transportation. "Ports around the country have a relatively high degree of confidence in their abilities to cope with the Y2K issue, but we are concerned about the preparedness of others. We all have relationships with providers outside of our immediate environment, and it is their ability to perform which is sometimes a question," said Ed OíConnell, director of membership services for the American Association of Port Authorities. "We have done objective testing of our own systems as they relate to others, but we canít control outsiders," he said. "Possibly the biggest unknowns in the world today are our trading partners ó Europe, the Far East and Latin America ó and the financial groups which drive our payment systems." [Dem98]
The status of foreign ports is largely unknown, but it is widely believed that they are far behind US ports in dealing with the problem. Lawrence K. Gershwin of the National Intelligence Council, a group of government and private-sector experts that reports to the CIA director, reported, "We are concerned about the shipping of oil products, because ocean shipping and foreign ports have both been flagged as among the least prepared sectors." He said that Eastern Europe, Russia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and several Asian nations show little progress in resolving Y2K problems [Bar99].
It seems very likely that maritime shipping will experience some disruptions.
A director of the Gartner Group estimated that about one in every four
shipping companies around the world should face disruptions due to the
Year 2000 problem. Roughly 10 percent of those problems should last for
at least three days and create costly slowdowns along the entire transportation
chain. All of the major ocean shipping lanes could be affected as two-thirds
of the companies in China, India, Russia, the Middle East, Argentina, and
Venezuela could encounter serious computer problems. Half of the companies
in Japan, Mexico, and Malaysia should also face major difficulties. The
issue is critical for the maritime industry because a single mainframe
computer that typically anchors a plantís entire inventory, distribution
and payment processes could shut down for several days [Bre98].
We have seen several areas of particular interest and concern in the examination of the preparedness of the transportation sector. The Federal Aviation Administration and the nation's airports generally got a late start in dealing with the year 2000 problem. The FAA has since made significant progress in addressing the problem, but still has a long way to go. There are many conflicting reports about their readiness, so at this time it is unclear if there will be significant air traffic control issues. The airports also have much work due to the large number of systems they must fix. Many smaller airports may not be prepared when the date change occurs. A small number of the nations larger airports may also experience problems that could cause delays throughout the entire system.
International travel during the date change should be avoided if possible. It is believed that international airports and air traffic control systems are much less prepared for Y2K than those in the US. Travel advisories will most likely be issued by the Department of State on which countries are at greatest risk. Airlines may also cancel flights to areas that may have safety concerns due to Y2K issues.
In the cities, traffic lights and subways will still run-- as long as power stays up. There may be delays resulting from failures in any number of small, yet essential, pieces of traffic control. Fuel shortages may occur and road conditions could be less than optimal. Subway stations and vehicle environment controls should not have major problems for those agencies that have realized the widespread nature of their embedded systems. Others may see some embarrassing failures.
Highways and interstate transit will face its largest concerns with emergency response systems. If 911 goes down there will be major traffic jams. The FTA, FHWA, DOT, and the APTA are all actively working at increasing funding and awareness for transit agencies. Many guidelines have been released and conferences are being held on a regular basis. Not all organizations expect to be compliant by the new year, but reliance on contingency plans similar to those for natural disasters are keeping them optimistic.
There will be some disruptions in commerce. While domestic trade may experience some slowdowns due to isolated problems, global trade may experience significant disruptions. The maritime shipping industry and foreign ports are not likely to be well prepared. This will effect major trade routes and cause economic problems and shortages of certain goods.
Segments of the transportation industry work closely together as people and goods transfer from one mode to another. This coupling of modes allows the best mode to be used at any given time, but it creates a dependency linkage that leaves the whole system vulnerable if just one link goes down.
This industry is dependent on many others such as communications and power. These interdependencies mean that even if the transportation industry is totally prepared, problems in other sectors could cause transportation to fail.
Transportation is also vital because of the often overlooked human element. Even if power and financial services institutions are present, individuals are required to open the courthouse doors, to man the hospital emergency rooms, and to unload milk at the grocery store. If these people are not able to reach their destinations then other services can not be delivered. [Ais99]
Finally, we would like to reiterate that problems WILL occur, and that
well-formed contingency plans and a holistic outlook are the keys to succesfully
weathering the Y2K storm.
Association of American Railroads. U.S. Class I Railroads Year 2000 Readiness Assessment January 1999. Posted March 12, 1999. http://www.fusionproductions.com/aar/y2k.htm[Ais99]
Michael Aisenberg. Keynote Address, APTA Year 2000 Survival Workshop, January 21, 1999. http://www.apta.com/y2k/docs/workshop/keynote.htm[Amt99]
Amtrak: News Release: Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure Statement. February 10, 1999. http://www.amtrak.com/news/pr/y2k.html[APT99]
APTA web site. http://www.apta.com[Bar99]
Stephen Barr. Foreign Nations Trail U.S. On Y2K Fixes, Expert Says. The Washington Post, page A23. The Washington Post, January 21, 1999.[BDG99]
Ralph Bivins, Michael Davis, and Laura Goldberg. U.S. industryís rush is on to root out, quash Y2K bug. The Houston Chronicle, page 24. The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company, January 1, 1999.[Boe98]
Boeing Corporate Press Release. September 7, 1998. http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/1998/news_release_980907a.html[Bre98]
Terry Brennan. Year 2000 time bomb. Journal of Commerce, Maritime, page 1B. Journal of Commerce, Inc., August 21, 1998.[Bur98]
Cassandra Burrell. FAA flying through its Y2K renovations. Associated Press. September 29, 1998.[Cha98]
Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Air traffic control system cleared for 2000; IBM warning prompted tests. The Washington Post, page A15. The Washington Post, July 22, 1998.[Con98]
Charles B. Conn. Year2000/Millenium Project, September 5, 1998. http://www.apta.com/y2k/docs/nymt1026.htm[Cor99]
Peter Corbett. Transit officials anxiously await new year. The Arizona Republic, page Y7. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., January 24, 1999.[Dem98]
Patricia Demetrio. Weathering the Y2K storm. Journal of Commerce, Maritime, page 1B. Journal of Commerce, Inc., December 15, 1998.[DOS99]
U.S. Department of State web page. Y2K Worldwide Notice ó Public Announcement. January 29, 1999. http://travel.state.gov/y2k_announce.html[DOT99]
U.S. Department of Transportation. What is the Year 2000 (Y2K) date processing problem? Last Updated on: 02/05/99. http://www.fta.dot.gov/Y2K/y2k.htm[Dow99]
Mortimer Downey. Remarks given at Y2K Survival Workshop Houston, Texas, January 22, 1999.[FAA99]
FAA Y2K web site. Viewed Febuary 26, 1999. http://www.faay2k.com/[FHW98]
Federal Highway Administration and the Year 2000 Computer Problem. Posted August 4, 1998. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/y2k/index.htm[FRA99]
Federal Railroad Administration. Summary of Y2K Outreach Activities. January 13, 1999. http://www.fra.dot.gov/doc/y2k/y2kbrief.htm[FTA99]
FTA Y2K web page: Typical Issues and problem Areas. February 5, 1999. http://www.fta.dot.gov/Y2K/typical.htm[Gai98]
Sallie Gaines. A Y2K chip on factories' shoulders. The Internet Tribune, Business News. The Chicago Tribune, June 08, 1998.[GAO99]
United States General Accounting Office. Year 2000 Computer Crisis: Status of Airportsí Efforts to Deal with Date Change Problem. January 29, 1999.[Gar99]
The Gartner Group Source Documents on Year 2000. http://gartner12.gartnerweb.com/gg/static/itjournal/gspecial1.html[Gaz98]
Gazette staff. Linn, C.R. addressing Y2K problem, officials say. The Gazette Company, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, December 9, 1998.[Gor99]
Paula Gordon. A Call To Action: The National and Global Implications of the Year 2000 Embedded Systems Crisis. Viewed on March 13, 1999. http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/mks/yr2000/y2kconf/papers/paper64fp.htm[Han98]
Marcus Hand. 100% compliance needed for Y2K problem. Business Times (Singapore), Shipping Times, page 1. Times Business Publications, December 24, 1998.[IAC99]
Three agencies look to the millenium; San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Houston, Texas, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Mass Transit Inc., Mass Transit, section no. 1, vol. 25; pg. 26; ISSN: 0364-3484. Information Access Company, a Thomson Corporation Company; ASAP, January 1, 1999.[LIR98]
Charles B. Conn. Long Island Rail Road Embedded Chip/System Inventory Checklist. NY MTA, September 4, 1998. http://www.apta.com/y2k/docs/lirr.htm[MDT98]
ITS Cooperative Deployment Network. Year 2000 Case Study: Minnesota Department of Transportation. Posted September 10, 1998. http://www.nawgits.com/y2k_mndot.html[Mea98]
Kenneth Mead. The Year 2000 Presents Significant Challenges for the Air Traffic Control System. February 4, 1998. http://www.house.gov/science/mead_02-4.htm[Met99]
Coll Metcalfe. Ventura County News; Call Boxes Latest Target of Y2K Bug. The Los Angeles Times, Ventura County Edition, Metro; Part B; Page 1; Zones Desk. Times Mirror Company, February 11, 1999.[Ore99]
Nick Oredson. Fly2K: The FAA and the Year 2000 Problem. Time Digital web page. February 2, 1999.[Osw99]
Stephanie Oswald. Travel industry dodges millennium bugís sting. CNN. February 4, 1999.[Pal99]
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. Some fear T won't be Y2K-proof; but officials insist work to reprogram is on track. The Boston Globe, City Edition, Metro/Region, page B1. Globe Newspaper Company, January 4, 1999.[PCG99]
TransitY2K.Org: An "Electronic Notebook" for Managers of Bus and Rail Transit Systems. The Palisades Consulting Group, Inc., Last Updated: March 12, 1999. http://www.TransitY2K.Org[Pri99]
Sightings. The Palisades Consulting Group, Inc., Feb. 6, 1999. http://www.TransitY2K.Org/sighting.htm
Daniel Prins. Y2K: Grim Reality or Myth? Year 2000 Computer Date Transition. Mass Transit Inc., Mass Transit, section no. 1, vol. 25; pg. 20; ISSN: 0364-3484. Information Access Company, a Thomson Corporation Company; ASAP, January 1, 1999.[Ran99]
Robert A. Rankin. State Dept. Study finds nations not ready for 2000. The Philadelphia Enquirer. March 5, 1999.[Ren98]
Alex Rendell. FAA wants to lead. Flight International, page 66. Reed Business Information Ltd., September 9, 1998.[Rob98]
William Roberts. Transport giants fighting off Millennium Bug. Journal of Commerce, News, page 1A. Journal of Commerce, Inc., September 14, 1998.[Sen99]
Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem. Investigating the Impact of the Year 2000 Problem. February 24, 1999. http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/documents/report/index.html[Ska98]
Michael Skapinker. KLM warns millennium bug may ground flights. Journal of Commerce, page 16A. Journal of Commerce, Inc., October 21, 1998.[Ste98]
Rick Stern. Fare Collection Equipment. September 22, 1998. http://www.apta.com/y2k/docs/stern922.htm[Tat98]
Barry Tate. Year 2000 ó Countdown to Chaos? Aug 13, 1998. http://www.iata.org/y2k/articles.htm[UPR99]
Union Pacific Railroad Year 2000 Project web site. Viewed March 3, 1999. http://www.uprr.com/y2k/[Wat99]
Karen Watkins. Potential Y2K Aftermath Problems. Feb 4, 1999. http://www.TransitY2K.Org/watkinsnotes.htm[WDT98]
ITS Cooperative Deployment Network. Year 2000 Case Study: Washington State Department of Transportation's Northwest Region. Posted September 10, 1998. http://www.nawgits.com/y2k_wsdot.html[WMA99]
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority web page:[Yom99]
http://www.wmata.com/Y2K/Y2KIntro.htm
http://www.wmata.com/Y2K/Y2KIssues.htm
Yomiuri. U.S. making all the right moves to tackle Y2K. The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), page 1. The Yomuiri Shimbun, February 28, 1999.
