The National Transport Authority has commissioned an independent review of a rail traffic management system which has been abandoned at a total cost of \u20ac50m.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
At the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee today, chief executive of the NTA Anne Shaw said the review would report in September.<\/p>\n
Ms Shaw said the review would examine governance, delivery and project oversight arrangements.<\/p>\n
She said this would “identify lessons” for future projects.<\/p>\n
Consultants EY will carry out the independent review of the rail traffic management system, and it will cost \u20ac250,000.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She added the integrated ticketing project, which is also being delivered by Indra remained on target and on budget.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
She said the organisation was “seeking to act in way that limits exposure” from the cost of the project with Indra.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n