A fierce row erupted between CIÉ and the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) over the demolition of the ramp at Connolly Station to facilitate a terminal stop for the Tallaght Luas line, The Irish Times has learned, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
CIÉ even sought a District Court order last October to deny the RPA and its contractors access to the ramp, having failed to obtain information on how the work was to proceed and what provisions were being made to service the station.
The row between the two State agencies became so intense that an assistant secretary at the Department of Transport, Mr Andrew Cullen, suggested in November that an arbitrator should be appointed to resolve the issues at stake.
Documents released by the RPA under the Freedom of Information Act show that it regarded CIÉ's demands for the accommodation of a taxi rank, car set-down space and six Bus Éireann bays at the Luas stop as "most unhelpful".
It was CIÉ's understanding that these facilities would be provided under the terms of an agreement between the Luas project office and the various CIÉ companies, negotiated before the project was taken over by the RPA in January 2002.
But when the RPA said it regarded this deal as a "fudge", CIÉ calculated that the options for servicing Connolly Station, after the ramp was replaced by a Luas stop at ground level, could cost the company between €5 million and €15 million.
A senior Iarnród Éireann architect, Mr David Hughes, told the RPA last October that he wished to state "categorically" that CIÉ "cannot and will not accept any costs in relation to the provision of facilities already promised by the Luas office".
But the Luas project manager, Mr Michael Sheedy, insisted that the RPA "does not accept that it is bound by any understanding which . . . may have existed within the CIÉ group concerning the allocation of space within the footprint of Connolly ramp".
The row had been brewing since last July, when CIÉ's chief architect, Mr John Clancy, wrote to the RPA expressing surprise that the Connolly Luas stop was to be provided on a "design and build" basis by AMB, the main contractor for the project.
After being denied sight of the contract, which runs to several volumes, because it contained "sensitive" information, Mr Clancy told the RPA that CIÉ had "no alternative but to withdraw their co-operation" until these issues were resolved.
Mr Hughes complained to the RPA in September that CIÉ was "being left to piece together a puzzle without any idea of the full picture". In an e-mail to the RPA, he said: "We need straight answers to straight questions and we are not getting them."
Mr Sheedy took exception to Mr Hughes's contention that CIÉ "were trying harder than the RPA to find a resolution". He said the design problem involved at Connolly was "the most complex" yet encountered on the entire Luas project.
He also warned Mr Joe Meagher, managing director of Iarnród Éireann, that the RPA would be subject to "significant exposure to contractual claims and the project will be at risk of extensive delays" unless AMB was given access to the ramp.
This warning was repeated by Mr Pat O'Donoghue, senior engineer on the Luas project. He said there would be "severe financial consequences" for the RPA if AMB was not granted access in line with the contract they had signed in April 2002.
Mr Frank Allen, the RPA's chief executive, attempted to defuse the row in September by expressing the hope that the issues could be resolved "on a less legalistic basis". Just two weeks later, CIÉ sought a court order to deny the RPA access.
Agreement was only reached after Mr Allen wrote to the company confirming that the RPA would "take full responsibility for total compliance with all health and safety requirements and will adhere to all the requirements of the Light Rail Order".
Locating the Luas stop on the site of the ramp will add at least €30 million to the cost of the project, even though an internal RPA memo last July conceded that it would "not achieve the optimum transport solution" in extending Luas to Docklands.