Road builders and Irish Rail disputes to cost €100m

THE STATE is facing further claims estimated in excess of €100 million as a result of disputes between road builders and Iarnród Éireann.

As recently reported in this newspaper Ban Civil the consortium which built the M9 Waterford to Knocktopher road scheme, lodged a claim for €30 million with Kilkenny County Council over what it said were delays in reaching agreement for work on the Knockmoylan railway bridge.

Now it has emerged similar claims for additional payments were lodged with local authorities in counties Clare, Galway, Meath and Carlow. All allege delays by Iarnród Éireann in processing approval for bridge works.

The claim against Clare County Council was lodged by the Gama Strabag consortium, builders of the Ennis bypass.

Another claim relates to the Navan inner relief road in Co Meath. Regan Contractors became involved in a dispute with Iarnród Éireann over a crossing of the line between Tara Mines and Drogheda. The Navan inner relief road opened in May 2009 about three years after its projected date of 2006.

The Irish Timesunderstands another dispute citing Iarnród Éireann in a claim for compensation relates to a crossing of the Dublin to Waterford Railway line as part of the Carlow bypass. Two claims have previously been lodged with Galway County Council alleging delays in the approval of two bridges on the N6 Ballinasloe to Athlone route. In addition, in late 2008 the consortium building the Kilcullen to Waterford section of the N9/N10 was granted almost €7 million in compensation due to delays in obtaining consent from Iarnród Éireann for the construction of a bridge over a rail line along the route.

Neither Iarnród Éireann nor the National Roads Authority (NRA) could say this week how many claims for compensation had been made or what the value of those claims was. Both agencies said that they were not defendants in the claims which were made against the local authorities in whose name the road schemes were carried out.

But according to documents released by the NRA under the Freedom of Information Act, the authority was so concerned about the situation it raised the issue with Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey more than two years ago.

Internal NRA documents of the time revealed: “The NRA is continuing to incur significant costs as a consequence of contractor claims in respect of disruption to work programmes for major road schemes because of undue delays on the part of Iarnród Éireann in the approval of national road bridges over railway lines.”

Iarnród Éireann has consistently maintained its concerns were in the interests of the safety of the travelling public.

In a statement it said: “Given that many contractors have had works approved smoothly, any elongation of the approval process in individual instances is down to contractors failing to meet or provide for in their own planning what are uniform standards in works which impact on the railway line.”