Dart disruption to continue until this evening

DUBLIN’S SOUTHSIDE Dart commuters face a second day of disruption today after a truck damaged some 800 metres of overhead lines yesterday.

The driver of the truck identified himself to gardaí at Irishtown yesterday evening.

The lifting arm of the flatbed lorry pulled down wires at the Merrion Gates level crossing shortly after 9am.

It was the most significant overhead wire damage from a single incident in the Dart’s 25 years, Iarnród Éireann said.

Extreme weather conditions and safety concerns forced engineers to abandon work on fixing the lines last night.

As a result, the company revised the initial expected time for services to resume from 6am this morning to this afternoon at the earliest.

The vehicle also caused significant damage to the barriers, with one gate pulled off and a power pole pulled down as the truck crossed from the Rock Road over the Merrion Gates.

Dart services between Lansdowne Road station and Dún Laoghaire station were suspended as a result.

The driver left the scene in the truck without reporting the incident to gardaí or rail authorities.

The registration number of the vehicle was noted by witnesses and Iarnród Éireann has shown CCTV footage of the incident to gardaí.

Iarnród Éireann was “confident that this idiotic and reckless piece of driving, which has caused such disruption to rail services, will result in prosection”, the company said. Gardaí are investigating the incident.

Early statements by the company on the incident referred to the driver as a “genius” and an “idiot”.

About 30 passengers were stuck on one citybound train for more than an hour immediately after the incident because power on the section of the line was automatically cut for safety reasons.

Iarnród Éireann spokesman Barry Kenny expected the costs of the incident to be “significant” due to repairs and payments to Dublin Bus for honouring Dart tickets.

Intercity trains operated as normal apart from services to and from Gorey and Rosslare which were replaced by a bus transfer between Dublin and Bray.

Dart services between Howth/ Malahide and Lansdowne Road and from Greystones to Dún Laoghaire operated as normal.

Drivers may also face disruption as Merrion Gates are due to remain closed to traffic until this evening and motorists are advised to avoid all approaching roads.