British train Web page suffers hack.

It wasn_t the millennium bug but a hacker who today temporarily closed down the much-read Internet timetable page for Britain's railways by inserting a false report that there would be no trains over the holiday. The hacker_s action forced officials to shut down for several hours the Web page intended to help people plan their New Year_s Eve travel. Officials were able to repair the damage and the page was back up by midday. "We had a prankster put up on our Web page that there won_t be any trains over the millennium period," said a spokeswoman for the rail network operator Railtrack. "It might be amusing for the pranksters, but it is a huge inconvenience for travelers," she added. Trains were running special holiday services and were functioning normally, she said. The page, at "www.railtrack.co.uk," operates as a journey planner in which people can key in their destination and call up relevant timetables.