IT firm seeks up to €30m from Irish Rail for scrapped technology project

Spanish IT company Indra is seeking payments of potentially more than €30 million from Irish Rail as part of final accounts for an information technology system to manage trains across the network, which has been scrapped.Irish Rail is arguing there is no money due to Indra.The State-owned rail company has already written down by €50 million its investment in a new national train control system based at Heuston Station largely due to problems with the technology – known as the traffic management system (TMS).Irish Rail chief executive Mary Considine has told the Oireachtas committee on transport in advance of a hearing on Wednesday that it terminated the TMS contract with Indra on July 17th, 2026.READ MOREShe said work was currently progressing to close out the contract in line with its terms and conditions.The Irish Times understands Indra has sought additional payments as part of the finalisation of accounts that could amount to more than €30 million.Irish Rail said in a statement on Tuesday that it had “rejected Indra’s position, noting there are no monies due to Indra”. It is understood that, in turn, Irish Rail is seeking to address the financial effects of what it maintains is the lack of a developed product from Indra.Indra did not reply to specific questions on Tuesday relating to additional payments.[ ‘Absolutely chaotic’: Passengers frustrated by overcrowding on Irish public transportOpens in new window ]It said it “continues to make every effort to pursue constructive dialogue and seek an amicable resolution with Irish Rail”. Indra said it remained “fully confident in the quality of the work delivered” and expressly reserved all of its rights.The TMS project to integrate signals, communications and other systems on the railway network was originally expected to cost about €19 million, but was beset by years of delays and cost overruns.Indra, however, said its TMS had been “successfully deployed and is operating in countries including Spain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Lithuania” where operators had repeatedly expressed confidence in its technology.Considine is expected to tell the Oireachtas committee that it was currently proposed to provide a replacement train control system.Irish Rail is seeking to put in place a system designed by Siemens in the Greater Dublin Area “to improve operational resilience and help mitigate the obsolescence risks for that part of the network”. This work is expected to be substantially completed by late 2028.[ New battery-electric trains due to arrive next year in bid to relieve overcrowding on servicesOpens in new window ]Irish Rail also wants to deploy the Siemens system across the remainder of the network and has sought approval from the National Transport Authority to go outside normal procurement arrangements. It is understood that this proposal has not yet been approved.“While overall completion is envisaged by 2031, the majority of the project will be substantially complete and operational by the end of 2030,″ it said.