Bad software, bureaucratic feuds plague BART

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Ari Ollikainen <Ari () OLTECO com>
Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 12:33:34 -0800
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Bad software, bureaucratic feuds plague BART

 For IP...This has been going on for 5 months!


Bad software, bureaucratic feuds plague BART

Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Monday, February 7, 2005

A software glitch afflicting BART's Peninsula line has passengers
throughout the system enduring repeated delays of as long as half an
hour -- and the transit system is having a rough time getting the
problem fixed.

The computer bug, which causes switching equipment to malfunction,
has stopped as many as three trains a week in their tracks along a
10-mile stretch between the Colma and Millbrae stations. That, in
turn, has led to a ripple of delays throughout the system, including
for passengers trying to get to SFO to catch their flights.

"We are having more problems than normal,'' BART spokesman Linton
Johnson conceded. "Essentially, it's a software problem that controls
the tracks.''

If you ride BART regularly, chances are you've been held up because
of the problem. On Wednesday, for example, the switching equipment
near the airport failed at 8:26 a.m., resulting in a 34-minute glitch
that delayed 13 trains for five to 10 minutes.

At 7:38 the following morning, records show, BART had a 50-minute
glitch at the same spot that left nine trains delayed for five to 17
minutes.

The same morning, at 11:34, a 26-minute snafu near Millbrae delayed
four trains for five to 12 minutes.

And while BART insists it's not a safety problem, it is a big headache.

"The train operator has to get physically out of the train, walk the
entire length of track to the next switch and manually crank it --
and sometimes there are two switches,'' Johnson said. "Usually it
takes about 10 minutes, but in rare cases it can take a half-hour.''

Fixing the computer glitch -- which popped up five months ago -- has
turned into a bureaucratic nightmare.

It's all entangled in a dispute between a general contractor and one
of its subcontractors, which has gone bankrupt. To make matters
worse, transit officials are having a tough time dealing with the
software maker who, it turns out, was working for the bankrupt
subcontractor.

A real case of "Who's on first?"

One bit of positive news: BART reps say they've put new procedures in
place in the past month -- sometimes shutting down the faulty
electronic equipment and relying on manual switching -- that have cut
the frequency of the disruptions in half.

 ...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/07/BAG0UB6R3B1.DTL


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