Cork rail project delays could cost €800,000 a month

Delays to a Cork rail project that is meant to be operational in a year’s time could cost €800,000 a month, even though the technology needed to avoid this is yet to be invented.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) and Iarnród Éireann recently appeared in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to discuss the controversial, €50m write-off of a traffic-management system (TMS) that was to be the ‘brain’ of the railway network.

The NTA spent six years developing a computer system to manage train movements, before concluding that the software could not be deployed.

The Cork Area Commuter Rail programme, which was one of the first of nine projects in the State to be designated critical infrastructure, requires a functioning TMS for upgrades to the signalling and communications system needed to increase train capacity and frequency.

The NTA said, in documentation provided to PAC members, that a “potential risk relates to the commissioning of the new signalling system on the Cork commuter rail network, which is currently under construction.

“The current, planned date for commissioning the new signalling system in Cork is August 2027. In advance of this signalling system being commissioned, it will be necessary to have developed a suitable TMS for the signalling to feed into.

“If there is a delay to the commissioning date for the Cork signalling system, this could lead to additional costs on the project, including contractor delay claims and internal and external project management of up to €800,000 per month.”

The NTA document said that as a result of programme delays, Iarnród Éireann envisages prolongation claims from equipment manufacturers who have been unable to complete integration testing and validation to TMS due to the delays.

Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady raised this issue at the meeting, asking what reassurances Iarnród Éireann could give that the system would be in place in time.

Chief executive Mary Considine said: “Part of resolving where we are, at the moment, and moving forward is looking at how we can deliver a train-control system for the entire country.”

Ms Considine said that they were looking for a solution, and added: “The Cork area commuter rail project is a critical project. We do not want to have to delay or implicate that.”