Irish Rail’s National Train Control Centre (NTCC) project, that includes a new traffic management system, is now projected to come up to €57m over-budget.
The projected over-spend on the controversial project has drawn the attention of public spending watch-dog, Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy, in his report attached to the National Transport Authority’s 2025 annual financial statements.
Mr McCarthy states that the original plan was that the whole project, including the new traffic management system and back-up facility, would be completed by March 2025 and the original project budget was €148m.
Mr McCarthy said that the NTA states that, based on its current estimates, the forecast project cost outturn is expected to be in the range of €175m to €205m.
A note attached to the NTA accounts states that the projected increase in the forecast outturn cost of the project primarily reflects delays and issues associated with the delivery of the traffic management system element, which has resulted in an extension of the delivery period for the system.
It states that the NTA “has taken an active role in addressing emerging issues, including engaging with key parties to agree mitigation measures and revised delivery arrangements”.
The NTA “continues to monitor and review the projected cost as part of its capital investment governance and oversight arrangements,” it added.
Mr McCarthy states that a note attached to the NTA accounts discloses that expenditure on the project to end 2025 totalled €148.3m, with a further €12.2m committed for subsequent periods of account.
Earlier this year, the board of Irish Rail wrote down by €50m the value of its investment in a new national train control centre and much of the impairment related to spending on the traffic management system.
Mr McCarthy’s report comes seven years after the NTA in July 2019 approved Irish Rail’s plans to develop a National Train Control Centre (NTCC) to manage and regulate all train movements on the national rail network.
The project includes the construction of a new train control centre building at Heuston Station, the refurbishment of the existing central train control centre at Connolly Station, and the development of a new train traffic management system and back-up facility.
The centre at Heuston Station was completed in 2022.
Elsewhere in his report, Mr McCarthy highlights that the NTA accounts disclose that costs of €6.96m have been incurred over the period 2022 to 2025 in relation to the storage and servicing of new electric buses not yet in use.
He said that the storage and servicing cost for 2025 was €1.27m and the deployment of the stored buses into the operational fleet was delayed due to a requirement to provide charging infrastructure.
A note attached to the accounts states that temporary storage costs were incurred for certain electric buses due to delays in the rollout of charging infrastructure, arising from procurement challenges and planning consent issues outside the control of the NTA and operators.
The note points out that the electric bus fleet is procured under a competitively tendered multi-annual framework agreement and the price paid is based on the tendered price adjusted by an indexation factor.
The note states that should an alternative approach of delaying the bus fleet purchase until the charger installation was complete have been adopted, the purchase cost of the fleet would have been significantly higher due to inflation.
It states that if the bus purchases were deferred by one year from their actual order placement dates, the additional purchase cost of the buses due to the indexation factor would be approximately €12m.
The overall spend by the NTA in 2025 increased by 17% to €2.56bn.
The report states that the spend on Metrolink, including commitments, was €427.6m as at the end of December 2025 and the main expenditure items include design and tender documentation development including legal and other services.
On Bus Connects Dublin, a note states that expenditure during 2025 was €90.6m, giving total expenditure to date of €330.3m.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
