ZAU ARTCC CTLR VECTORING ACR TFC EBOUND IS TOLD BY ZOB ARTCC THEY WERE UNABLE TO ACCEPT ANY MORE ACFT TO EWR.

Narrative

I WAS WORKING THE RADAR POS ALONE; NOT VERY BUSY. ZOB CALLS ME AND TELLS ME THEY CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE EWR FLTS -- I'M IN THE HOLD. I HAD ACR X 10-15 MI FROM THE ZOB BOUNDARY. I ALSO HAD ANOTHER EWR FLT 25 MI IN TRAIL. I TURNED ACR X TO A 360 DEG HDG AND THEN ISSUED A PRESENT POS HOLD. I HAD TO GO BACK AND SHUT OFF THE OTHER DEPS BELOW HIM TO ENSURE SEPARATION. I THEN HAD TO VECTOR THE IN TRAIL EWR FLT DOWN TO THE S. IN THE MEANTIME; I HAD ACR Y FILED GIJ..KLANT GOING OVERSEAS. I PUT HIM ON A 350 DEG VECTOR TO GO AROUND THE HOLDING PATTERN AIRSPACE. SINCE ACR X WAS NOT EVEN IN MY AIRSPACE ANYMORE; I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE OTHER SECTOR'S FL330 TFC. THERE WAS ALSO FL310 TFC; SO I COULDN'T DSND EITHER ACFT. WHEN THE 350 DEG HDG WASN'T WORKING; I ADJUSTED THE PLAN AND TURNED TO A 070 DEG HDG; DSNDED TO FL310; THE TURNED FURTHER R TO 090 DEGS. I TURNED ACR X FROM A 270 DEG HDG TO A 330 DEG HDG. THEY PASSED; ACCORDING TO THE NTAP; 4.6 MI AND 900 FT. THIS WAS THE THIRD TIME THAT NIGHT ZOB PLACED US IN NO NOTICE HOLDING FOR EWR. IT'S A VERY COMMON OCCURRENCE AND FORTUNATELY THERE'S NEVER BEEN AN ERROR BEFORE THIS ONE. HOWEVER; IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME. THIS SIT IS VERY DANGEROUS NO MATTER HOW MANY ACFT ARE ON THE FREQ. ACR X DID RESPOND TO A TCASII RA AND CLBED TO FL335. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 455393: I WAS AT THE HDOF POS AT KEELER SECTOR. ZOB HAD JUST SLAMMED US IN THE HOLD. THE RADAR CTLR WAS VECTORING (OR HOLDING) ACR X WBOUND AT FL330. ACR Y WAS PUT ON A NBOUND VECTOR TO AVOID TFC. ACR X WAS IN EMPIRE SECTOR'S AIRSPACE; WHICH STARTS AT FL330 AND UP. BELOW IS PULLMAN SECTOR'S AIRSPACE. WHEN IT WAS CLR THAT ACR Y AND ACR X WOULD BE IN CONFLICT; I COORDINATED A DSCNT TO FL310 FOR ACR X. THE RADAR CTLR INSTEAD TURNED ACR Y E AND DSNDED TO FL310. SEPARATION WAS LOST; ALTHOUGH IT APPEARED THAT THE ACFT PASSED BY AT LEAST 5 MI.