A contractor in the CIE rail signalling project knowingly bought the wrong underground cables, damaged them during installation and failed to discover the damage until 300 km were laid because routine testing was not carried out, an Oireachtas heard yesterday.
MNL (Modern Networks Ltd) later accepted responsibility for the damage and began replacing the cables at their own cost but the company's contract was terminated leaving Iarnrod Eireann with outstanding work estimated to cost £7-8 million.
The mistake contributed to an estimated £36 million overrun in the signalling project, known as mini-CTC, which had an original budget of £14 million.
The inquiry heard evidence from cable suppliers, Wessel Cables, that MNL placed an order for cable despite being told by Wessel it was not of the specification Iarnrod Eireann recommended. The type specified by the rail company was slightly thicker. MNL denied the difference between the cables was significant and an independent consultant told the inquiry it would not have affected their performance if the method of installation had been different.
The consultant, Mr Barry Bird, of Leigh Technical Services, said MNL laid the cables first and then placed ducts over them. The ducts were split with a circular saw and pushed down over the cables so that the split ends scored the cables.
Mr Bernard Kernan, a former Ianrod Eireann engineer and now a director of MNL, said MNL discovered the damage in October 1999 and informed the rail company.
Mr Kernan said only 60 km was damaged but replacing it would leave too many joins in the system so the whole 300 km had to come up.
He said the problem would have been discovered much earlier if the normal procedure of testing cables after 4-5 km were laid had been carried out.
Testing was not carried out because the cables were laid long before they were to be used. He said they were laid early because they had to be installed at the same time as cables being laid in a separate job for Esat.
Current Iarnrod Eireann engineer, Mr Ronan Finlayson, rejected Mr Kernan's explanation. "I understand the Esat cable was tested and commissioned by MNL. There was nothing to stop them testing the optical and copper cable (the Iarnrod Eireann cable) at the same time. They chose themselves to delay the testing," he said.
Mr Kernan was also challenged on his evidence that the damaged cabling only became a cost issue for Iarnrod Eireann because MNL's contract was terminated while the company was replacing it.
Mr Joe Meagher, chief executive of Iarnrod Eireann, said on the contrary, it was MNL's failure to make significant progress on replacing the cables by May 2000 that was a critical factor in the decision to terminate the contract.