Merger of NRA and RPA

Aard

Fine Gael's new document, "Reinventing Government", proposes to merge the National Roads Authority and the Railway Procurement Agency. Page 86 here: http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1107/finegael.pdf


Just wanted to let people know

Tech3

It's probably a good move, the NRA are ramping down operations in theory with the major road schemes all coming to an end in the next few weeks. Only 1 big project going to construction next year and possibly Newlands X.

Trimming the workforce in the authority will save some much needed money.

dowlingm

Move all IE trackbed, signalling, bridges etc. there too and they'll really be on to something.

AlekSmart

Trimming the workforce in the authority will save some much needed money.

Hmmmmm......My guess is that any SUPER,NEW,IMPROVED...NRA/RPA will need more staff to monitor and administer the expanded PPP Road Toll programme...;)

There is also,of course the National TRANSPORT Authority in existance,which would seem to have some opportunities for synergy too..???

antoinolachtnai

dowlingm wrote: »

Move all IE trackbed, signalling, bridges etc. there too and they'll really be on to something.

I really don't know how the government can avoid doing this, or doing something about IE's stewardship of the heavy rail network. The situation with leaving Irish Rail in charge of railways seems to be too uncertain and too dangerous.

Telchak

dowlingm wrote: »

Move all IE trackbed, signalling, bridges etc. there too and they'll really be on to something.

I don't know about this. Whereas the NRA and RPA have different target markets, handing the rails over to the NRA might ensure their dismantling =/

Stark

Telchak wrote: »

I don't know about this. Whereas the NRA and RPA have different target markets, handing the rails over to the NRA might ensure their dismantling =/

A bonus in quite a few cases.

markpb

Telchak wrote: »

I don't know about this. Whereas the NRA and RPA have different target markets, handing the rails over to the NRA might ensure their dismantling =/

Have you anything at all to back this up?

Telchak

markpb wrote: »

Have you anything at all to back this up?

As I thought was pretty obvious from the lack of definite wording in my post, its just an opinion

CIE

Aard wrote: »

Fine Gael's new document, "Reinventing Government", proposes to merge the National Roads Authority and the Railway Procurement Agency. Page 86 here: http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1107/finegael.pdf

Just wanted to let people know

Well thanks, for what it's worth. However, nothing's really solved by merely shuffling the decks of bureaucracies. And frankly, such a move might create a conflict of interest, as others have noted.

Aard

CIE wrote: »

Well thanks, for what it's worth. However, nothing's really solved by merely shuffling the decks of bureaucracies. And frankly, such a move might create a conflict of interest, as others have noted.

I detect that you may have thought that I support Fine Gael, and was advertising their good ideas. Fwiw, I wasn't, and don't support them

dynamick

This was proposed last year by the McCarthy Bord Snip Nua report

Department of Transport
41 Merge National Vehicle & Driver File (function in D/Trans.) into the Road
Safety Authority €2.0m
42 The Group considers that the creation of a single transport safety body
comprising existing separate bodies (the Road Safety Authority, the
Railway Safety Commission, the Maritime Safety Directorate, and the Irish
Aviation Authority) should be examined.
-
43 Merge the Railway Procurement Agency and the National Roads Authority €3.0m

Cookie_Monster

why does the NTA not simply take control of everything transport related?

RSA
RPA
NRA
DTA
Motor tax and licensing
MSD
IAA

dowlingm

Telchak wrote: »

I don't know about this. Whereas the NRA and RPA have different target markets, handing the rails over to the NRA might ensure their dismantling =/

Well, some of it possibly should be dismantled or otherwise disposed of to other purposes. IE's books should not be weighted down with responsibility for lines on which they don't offer services.

However - making NRA responsible for rail alignments might lead to the interesting situation where they would be obligated to put forward an alternatives analysis any time they wanted a new road. Also, a combined operation could have a more extensive set of tools and personnel to manage threats such as erosion, landslip, bridge deck structures and coastal defence - all of which have been matters where IE's stewardship has been found wanting.

dowlingm

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

why does the NTA not simply take control of everything transport related?

Makes me wonder what would be left for Dept of Transport to do...

Victor

dowlingm wrote: »

Makes me wonder what would be left for Dept of Transport to do...

Agreed.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

why does the NTA not simply take control of everything transport related?

RSA
RPA
NRA
DTA
Motor tax and licensing
MSD
IAA

Because, to a degree the RSC, RSA, MSD and IAA are there to police the others?

Fair enough, you could form a Transport Safety Authority and there would be some synergies (all are engineering and safety-led), but given the Malahide incident, having people police themselves is not good.