Millennium bug stalls Norwegian trains

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By Mike Magee • Get more from this author

Posted in Software, 10th January 2001 13:46 GMT

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A report on the Associated Press wire said that Norwegian trains came to a halt because of problems recognising the date.

It apparently is due to some new strain of the Millennium Bug.

According to AP, not one single high speed train would fire up on New Year's day, and the wire, quoting a railway representative, said the Norwegian train controllers hadn't even contemplated checking whether the 31st of December 2000 would cause a problem with the trains.

Again, according to AP, the trains started when the computer wizards working on the trains re-set the computers to December 1st, 2000.

Trains without newer computer systems were unaffected. It is possible that the engineers forgot that last year (2000) was a leap year, with an extra day in the month of February.

If only it were so easy here in good old Blighty, where the trains hardly run at all, if ever, even if there is no 'R' in the month.

You can find the story here, and no doubt at other syndicated sites worldwide... ®

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