The National Transport Authority has commissioned an independent review of a rail traffic management system which has been abandoned at a total cost of €50m.
Spanish group Indra was awarded the contract by Irish Rail, which has now written off the project. It had been due to be delivered in June 2024.
At the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee today, chief executive of the NTA Anne Shaw said the review would report in September.
Ms Shaw said the review would examine governance, delivery and project oversight arrangements.
She said this would “identify lessons” for future projects.
Consultants EY will carry out the independent review of the rail traffic management system, and it will cost €250,000.
Ms Shaw said the NTA and Irish Rail would now assess the need for further funding for the traffic management system with the Department of Transport.
She added the integrated ticketing project, which is also being delivered by Indra remained on target and on budget.
“Regrettably six years on and two years after the commissioning date Indra do not have a safe product fit for deployment on our rail network,” the chief executive of Irish Rail Mary Considine said.
She said the organisation was “seeking to act in way that limits exposure” from the cost of the project with Indra.
She detailed how Irish Rail tried to see if the software supplied by Indra would work on a small part of the rail network but found it was “immediately apparent that many of the systematic issue remained” with the product.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
At the committee, executives from Irish Rail and the NTA were questioned by Labour TD Eoghan Kenny about whether responsible staff members in Irish Rail had faced sanctions as a result of the controversy.
He criticised Irish Rail employees involved and said: “The staff won’t be demoted and won’t lose any pay.”
He was told by Ms Considine that Irish Rail’s executive team were responsible.
People Before Profit Solidarity TD Paul Murphy queried whether a “fundamental flaw happened at the start of the contract.”
He added the contract allowed Indra win a contract on the basis of a product “they had not yet developed.”
In a statement Indra said: “Irish Rail’s infrastructure, which is more than a century old, presents highly complex legacy components.”
It added “this has made it challenging for both parties to reach agreement on system requirements and integrations, as well as to align documented requirements with the actual network behaviour.”
The Spanish company said it was making “every effort to address these challenges and rejects any suggestion relating to shortcomings in the safety or integrity of its solutions.”
It said it’s activities were subject to rigorous assurance processes and oversight by accredited independent assessors.
