Irish Rail looking at other options after writing off failed €50m IT project, committee told

The software, which was part of an effort to deliver a national railway control centre in Dublin, was expected to be delivered in 2024 at a cost of under €20m

Chief Executive of Iarnród Éireann, Mary Considine, confirmed they remain in contract with Indra, but they are looking at other options to deliver a traffic management system. Picture Jason Clarke

Senior Irish Rail officials are looking at “all options” to deliver a new traffic management system, after over €50m was spent on an undelivered system.

Irish Rail chief executive Mary Considine said the serious problems stemming from the traffic management system were of “deep concern”, as contractor Indra has missed the completion deadline by two years.

The project has now been written off, after Indra provided a software product to Irish Rail for testing in February, but a litany of systemic issues remained. At the Oireachtas Transport Committee, Ms Considine said some of these issues were safety critical.

The project itself is part of a wider effort to deliver a national railway control centre in Dublin. The software was expected to be delivered in 2024 at a cost of under €20m.

Paul Hendrick, director of capital investments, said Irish Rail saw a “material red flag” in 2024, citing concerns around the progress of the project. Ms Considine said there had been six missed deadlines, but that Indra had given assurances as a multibillion-dollar company that they would be able to deliver.

She confirmed Irish Rail remains in contract with Indra, but they are looking at options to deliver a traffic management system. “We’re working through those and we will be bringing those options to the board this month,” Ms Considine said.

Ms Considine declined to set out their exact plans, due to Irish Rail remaining under contract with Indra. However, questioning Mr Hendrick, Sinn Féin’s transport spokesperson Pa Daly suggested Irish Rail could opt to end their contract with Indra and tender another company to undertake the work.

Mr Daly also suggested another option would be to hire a third party to assist Indra complete the project. Mr Hendrick said these were among the options on the table.

He also warned due to the age of the current traffic management system that, if a fault emerges, while there will be no safety risk, it could lead to a degradation of Irish Rail services.

Committee chair Michael Murphy said the information provided by Irish Rail shows a “pattern of repeated delays” alongside rising cost, multiple resets by the contractor and a loss of confidence in the train management system project.

He said there were serious concerns about delivery and governance, with risks to the project being identified as early as 2022.

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“Yet, expenditure on the project continued to increase significantly,” Mr Murphy said. “For me, this is more than the software issue, this is about a failure of governance which ultimately was unable to prevent a significant loss of public money.”

Sinn Féin’s Louis O’Hara questioned if it would be possible for Irish Rail to claw back some of the funds spent on the project, with Mr Hendrick saying there is a liquidated damages mechanism over missed dates.

He said there have been no payments made to Indra since late last year. However, Ms Considine said if Irish Rail remains in contract with Indra, there would be additional costs beyond the €50.3m already spent on the traffic management system.

• Tadgh McNally is a political reporter for the Irish Examiner