Termination payout to ERG ? I'm not so sure. From SMH todayNSW...

Termination payout to ERG ? I'm not so sure. From SMH today

NSW dumps Tcard and wants $95m back
Email Printer friendly version Normal font Large font Alexandra Smith
January 23, 2008 - 2:16PM

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The NSW Government today officially terminated the controversial Tcard plan after years of frustration and delays for long-suffering commuters.

It is also planning court action to recover $95 million of taxpayers money from the problem-plagued public transport ticketing project.

Transport Minister John Watkins made the announcement at a news conference today, saying he would now have to restart his search for a workable all-in-one cashless ticketing system for Sydney's ferries, buses and trains.

"Ongoing delays, failures and the company's appalling projecte mangement have left teh Government no choice," Mr Watkins said.

"We have already seized the $10 million performance bond designed to protect the taxpayers and will move to recover the remaining costs through the courts."

There was no immediate comment from ERG, the company that had been contratcted to develop the Tcard system.

In November, a frustrated Mr Watkins, gave notice to ERG that the State Government intended to terminate its contract, citing years of delays.

At that time ERG had been told that it had until December 3 to produce a plan for completing Tcard, or the contract would end.

The messy history of the Tcard has been one of missed deadlines.

A delay notice was issued in September and ERG requested more time to install the technology on the CityRail network. ERG pleaded its case to the ticketing corporation and presented it with a remediation plan, warning it would take until 2017 for another company to provide a smartcard if it was to be dumped.

It said it had come up with an "alternative low-risk" approach that would see the Tcard working within two years.

The corporation met in early December to discuss ERG's proposal but did not come to a conclusion, leaving the contract hanging in the balance. ERG's chief executive, James Carroll, was not available yesterday.

The long-awaited project has become a huge embarrassment for the State Government, which had promised a transport smartcard would be ready in time for the Sydney Olympics.

The Tcard has been riddled with software faults, but it was not just ERG that was at fault.

A key sticking point in the project is Sydney's train fare system. It has more than 120 fare products that have proved a nightmare to integrate.