Firm behind Irish Rail's failed €50m IT system has not delivered product to any country, Dáil committee to hear

It emerged last May that Irish Rail had opted to discontinue the Indra projec — whose cost had ballooned from €20m to €50m — given the time and cost overruns which had dogged the project.

The contractor for a failed €50m attempt to upgrade the traffic management of Ireland’s rail network has so far failed to deliver its “generic product” to a single country, an Oireachtas Committee is to hear.

The Public Accounts Committee will be told on Thursday that Spanish company Indra had assured Irish Rail a “generic product” would be delivered to Ireland in 2021, two years after the company won the contract to upgrade the rail management system.

The product was to be delivered before the beginning of a dedicated software development process to upgrade the system by 2024, with Indra informing Irish Rail two other countries would also have the product deployed on their systems before Ireland.

“It should be noted that as of today, to the best of our knowledge, software supported by this 'generic product' has not yet been deployed in any railway,” officials will tell the committee.

It emerged last May that Irish Rail had opted to discontinue the Indra project — whose cost had ballooned from €20m to €50m — given the time and cost overruns which had dogged the project.

Officials will tell the PAC Irish Rail had informed the National Transport Authority in mid-2024 of its “increasing lack of confidence” in Indra’s ability to deliver the project.

By the middle of the following year, Irish Rail’s opinion regarding Indra’s capability of delivering the project had not improved, with the NTA then taking a “significantly more active” role in the contract’s management, the committee will hear.

At the same time, Irish Rail had “committed greater internal and third-party resources than originally envisaged” in order to get the project back on track, with the agreement of the NTA.

Company officials will note that, when Indra delivered its redeveloped software package for the “relatively simple section” of rail network on the Rosslare line in April 2026, it became “immediately apparent” many of the systemic issues with the software remained.

The company is set to inform the PAC that in order to mitigate the potential obsolescence of the current rail system, the entire suburban rail network in Ireland will be replaced “in its entirety”, while the main line system will be partially replaced with “a proven in use system”.