Ireland

In the initial version of Wednesday's report on new developments in tolling in Ireland we attributed the work on eFlow - the Irish brand-name for free flow all-electronic tolling - to Kapsch.  Bad mistake. In fact it was the work of their leading competitor CS Communications & Systemes (CS).  

The government of the Irish Republic (RoI) is making a number of moves to improve the country's tolling, including system upgrades and new toll projects to enlarge revenue. Like a number of other Euro zone countries Ireland faces pressing financial challenges that leave few alternatives - when it comes to maintaining and enhancing highways - to more tolls.

The Irish Times reports that the toll collectors celebrated with a bottle of Bailey's after their shift ended at midnight Friday night. They were moving on to new work - outside of the toll booth. The last cash tolls had been taken at the toll plaza just south of the West Link bridge on the M50 motorway on the western outskirts of Dublin. At the same time the toll concession with NTR plc (formerly National Toll Roads plc) was terminated.

Ireland's National Roads Authority has awarded a $147m (E113m@$1.3) contract to a Sanef(80%)-CS(20%) subsidiary BetEire to install and operate 2x3 lanes of no-cash highway speed electronic tolling on the M50 beltway around Dublin.