HIGH winds and heavy seas have swept away an 80-metre stretch of sea wall beside a railway track near Larne, Co Antrim.
Railway maintenance staff working on sea defence walls heard the sound of crashing rocks near the track between Glynn and Magheramorne on Tuesday evening, around the time a Northern Ireland Railways train was due to leave Larne for Belfast.
There were reports that the train had already left and the crew was unaware of the subsidence.
However, Mr Seamus Scallon, NIR railways service manager, said yesterday that maintenance workers had warned headquarters of the problem before the train left Larne.
"We knew before the train left that there was a problem," he said, but the train was allowed to continue until it got near the area where the sea wall had collapsed.
A decision was then taken not to allow the train to pass the collapsed section and it returned to Larne. NIR said the line was not affected by the wall's collapse. However, it was vulnerable to the tide and adverse weather. Passengers on the rush-hour train were transferred by bus.
The line between Larne and Whitehead will be closed for 10 days while the section is strengthened.
Reinforcement of the sea wall is under way, but work has not begun on the section which subsided.
Mr Seallon said that passing trains were travelling slowly because of the work.