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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
Chapter 2: What are the current issues with the Irish Rail signalling upgrade?
Now, Irish Rail is before the Transport Committee this morning over delays to a signalling upgrade. The project has already cost €150 million, with Irish Rail writing off €50 million of that. But the problems don't end there. Shane Moynihan is Fianna Fáil TD and Deputy Chair of the Transport Committee. Good morning to you.
Good morning, Clare. How are you?
I'm good. Now, we know about the 50 million euro write-off, so that's one thing. But the project still, as it currently stands, is a mess. Would you agree?
Yeah, I think there's big questions to ask about the overall delivery of this project, particularly from what was envisaged from the get-go. And just for context for your listeners, the project we're talking about here is a train management system which operates and governs how trains are managed on the national network.
It was to be sited in the new train control centre, which is beside Euston Station, which was delivered on budget and on time.
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Chapter 3: How much has the Irish Rail signalling project cost so far?
But the delivery of the software solution to oversee the management of those trains is what is at the core of this. And I guess when you call out numbers like 50 million euro, your listeners, many of whom are in my constituency, who use trains, who have packed carriages, are wondering what could we have got with that 50 million.
So I think we have a lot of questions asked this morning here and over there about how we've arrived in this situation and, more importantly, how we're going to get out of it and how we're going to deliver that overall system.
Yeah, because it's six years since that tender was awarded and it's two years behind the delivery date now. And it doesn't sound to me, reading what Irish Rail are going to say to you in committee this morning, that they're confident that this is going to be delivered at all.
No, and I think there's huge delivery questions there in terms of even in terms of what was originally envisaged at the start of this process and what is being talked about now in terms of a minimum viable product. But there are big questions to ask about how Indra has got to the place where they are now. This is the company that was awarded the contract.
This is the company that was awarded the contract. Like how we got... situation where they won a contract and now we're not even at a place where they have the first phase of the software package deployed.
And I think one thing that's kind of jumped out at me from looking at the story of this project so far is that immediately after Indra were awarded the contract, they turned around and said, actually, the product of the software package that we had mentioned during our pre-qualification, during the procurement process, isn't something that we're going to be able to deliver.
And that, for me, is where kind of a whistle should have been blown and said, OK, well, what are we going to do now as a result of that? And the second thing that kind of compounds that for me is that there's been kind of two efforts to reset this programme, to get Indra back on track and get the delivery of this programme back on track. But we're still not in a place where
We can say with confidence that's going to happen. And this matters, Clare, because obviously this is a safety issue. But also, I'm looking at programmes like the Darplus Southwest and Darplus West, my part of Dublin, and wondering, will this have a knock-on impact on delivery of those crucial public transport programmes that people in my constituency rely on?
Why would it have an impact? Because of the money being spent on this? Or is the delay going to have an impact for other reasons?
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Chapter 4: What questions are being raised about the project's delivery?
It's in terms of the safety. So the reason that this system is being replaced is because the system that operates at a colony station at the moment is at end of life. It needs to be replaced. And if you're going to expand the network and if you're going to expand all the services, and a lot of which Aeronaut Air is doing very well in terms of delivering that expansion of the network.
You need a train management, a traffic management system for your trains that will take account of that. That is first class and that is at a point in this contract where it's a new piece of software, but also fit for purpose in terms of that new network and managing that.
And that's why this project was commissioned, because it was seen that the existing train management system was at the end of its life and needed to be replaced. This is the sort of thing that's crucial for safety on the public rail network. And that's why at the port we get it right.
And the 50 million euro that has been written down here, is that gone? Like, are we at the point where we're saying it's flushed?
Well, my understanding of it, having looked at the financial statement, is that 28 million of that relates to payments to INDRA, whereas the balance of it, that's kind of, in accounting terms, that's based on the decision that's made at the time. But that being said, I mean, any amount of money that's gone in that sort of way, that is a matter for huge public concern.
And that's the sort of thing that I'll be focusing in on with the leadership of Eireann O'Learne this morning.
It's an absolute scandal that that amount of money is gone to these people who still can't deliver this project that they committed to delivering on time.
100%, Clare, and I think like... as a commuter and someone who represents a greater constituency, as someone who wants to see the government's public transport programme delivered, to see this sort of suboptimal performance, I mean, that's probably being generous, suboptimal, from a provider is not what we would want and not what we need.
And, you know, we have to move at pace in terms of delivering our public transport programme. I know Minister O'Brien is very committed to that. And that's why we need to make sure that we get a very clear roadmap from Aeronaut Air and the NTA as to how exactly they're going to deliver this crucial piece of software and get this ultimately over the line.
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Chapter 5: Why is the new train management system crucial for safety?
That's Shane Moynihan who's a Fianna Fáil TD and Deputy Chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport.
The Clare Byrne Show. With Aviva Insurance. Weekday mornings at 9 on Newstalk. Conversation that counts.