ACR X TCASII RA IN HOLDING PATTERN WITH ACR Y; SAME ALT ASSIGNED. HAD LTSS. EVASIVE ACTION TAKEN. SYS ERROR.

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ACR X HOLDING PATTERN (AT RYANN ON BOIDS 4 ARR TO DFW) AND GIVEN CLRNC TO DSND TO FL310 AND THEN FL290; ACFT LANDED AT 29000. IN SECOND TIME AROUND IN PATTERN; WE RECEIVED AN RA FROM TCASII. WE FOLLOWED THE RA TO CLB; AND AT THE SAME TIME; CTLR GAVE US A R TURN TO HDG 090 DEGS (OUT OF HOLDING PATTERN) AND A CLB TO FL310. BEFORE WE LEFT THE FREQ; WE HEARD THE ACFT AT FL290 ASK THE CTLR WHO THE ACFT WAS AT 29000 FT. THE CTLR DID NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION. IN THE PREVIOUS 15 MIN OR SO; THERE WERE PERHAPS AS MANY AS 10-15 XMISSIONS; WHICH WERE 'STEPPED- ON' AND IN GENERAL; THE 'ATMOSPHERE' WAS CHAOTIC. THE CTLR SEEMED VERY RUSHED AND STRESSED. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 298267: ACR Y ENTERED HOLDING AT RYANN AT FL290. WE MADE OUR TURN OUTBOUND AND AFTER APPROX 1 1/2 MIN WE WERE GIVEN 'L TURN DIRECT TO BRIDGEPORT FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE BOIDS ARR. AS WE APCHED RYANN WE RECEIVED A TA AND TCASII SHOW A TARGET AT 11:30 O'CLOCK AT FL290. SHORTLY AFTER WE RECEIVED A RA AND VISUALLY PICK UP THE TARGET ACFT IN A CLBING R TURN AWAY FROM US. WE HAD STARTED OUR EVASIVE MANEUVER; A R DSNDING TURN AS TCASII COMMANDED; BUT ONLY DSNDED TO 28.8 AND 15 DEGS R WHEN WE SAW THAT WE WOULD PASS AROUND 4 MI APART. THE OTHER ACFT LOOKED TO BE A 757 OR 767. THE FREQ WAS VERY CONGESTED AND WE DID NOT GET THE CALL SIGN OF THE OTHER ACFT. SHORTLY AFTER; WE WERE GIVEN FL280 AND A FREQ CHANGE. UPON ARR IN DFW; I CALLED THE SECTOR SUPVR AND HE SAID THEY WERE REVIEWING THE TAPES TO SEE JUST WHAT HAD HAPPENED. I TALKED WITH HIM THE NEXT DAY AND HE CONFIRMED IT WAS A CTLR ERROR AND AN INVESTIGATION WAS IN PROGRESS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT A SOLUTION TO A PROB LIKE THIS MIGHT BE SHORT OF HAVING A BACKUP CTLR MONITORING THE PROGRESS OF ALL HOLDING PATTERN STACKS. FOR DFWS 4 GATES THIS COULD MEAN 4 EXTRA CTLRS WHEN HOLDING IS REQUIRED. WE HAD FLOWN THIS PARTICULAR TRIP 4 OTHER TIMES THAT MONTH. EACH TIME THERE WERE SLOW DOWNS AND AT LEAST ONCE AROUND THE PATTERN. ON THE NEXT FREQ; STILL ZFW; WE WERE SPDED UP AND THERE WAS HARDLY ANY TALK ON THE FREQ (FEW ACFT). THE SAME SIT HAPPENED ON APCH FREQ AND PART OF THE TIME WE LANDED ON THE E SIDE OF THE ARPT (CLOSE TO OUR GATES) DUE TO LACK OF TFC. THIS MADE US WONDER WHY SEPARATION WAS SUCH A BIG DEAL OUT AT RYANN? ARE APCH CTL AND THE LAST 2 CTR FREQS REALLY COMMUNICATING THEIR TRUE NEEDS?