The National Transport Authority (NTA) is reviewing a recommendation from Irish Rail to terminate a contract with an outside company for the development of a much-delayed IT system for the country’s railways.
The NTA said in a statement on Tuesday morning that a submission from Irish Rail regarding the potential termination of its contract with Indra for the provision of a traffic management system had been received on Monday evening.
“The NTA will now review this including any proposals from Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) in relation to potential follow-on steps to deliver the traffic management system on an alternative basis which will be required,” it said.
The traffic management system was supposed to be in place two years ago but has experienced considerable delays and budget overruns. Last month Irish Rail’s board wrote down by €50 million the value of its investment in a new national train control centre. Much of this impairment related to spending on the traffic management system.
READ MORE
At a special meeting last week, the board of Irish Rail backed proposals from management that the contract with the project’s external contractor be ended.
However, it will be up to the NTA to make a final decision.
The Irish Times reported on Monday that the board’s move to recommend that the contract with Indra be ended, in part, came after software delivered by the contractor failed key tests which took place over recent weeks.
Key safety features, for example, did not work reliably, staff who tested the software found. Alarms designed to issue alerts when trains had passed danger signals did not operate correctly if they had previously been stationary for long periods.
Separately, the NTA is expected to tell the Oireachtas transport committee on Wednesday that it is facing difficulties in meeting the growing demand from passengers for bus and train services.
NTA chief executive Anne Shaw will say in an opening statement that demand is exceeding supply.
She is expected to maintain that the authority is constrained by a shortage of drivers and mechanics and insufficient fleets of vehicles as well as by delays in advancing new developments and capacity.
Shaw is likely to point to growing passenger numbers on public transport which increased overall by about 20 million last year to 363.5 million journeys. She will say Dublin Bus carried 164 million passengers, Bus Éireann 53.6 million and Go Ahead Ireland 26 million. Irish Rail and Luas both had more than 55 million passengers last year.
“This success also highlights the constraints we face. Demand is exceeding supply in many areas, particularly at peak times, and there is strong demand for further expansion.”
It is understood Shaw will also say that the introduction of a new contactless payment system on public transport to replace the existing Leap card – known as next generation ticketing – was progressing on schedule with contactless payments set to be available from 2028.
