Gardai to question trucker in DART debacle
A shower of sparks falls on to the tracks after the lifting arm of the truck collided with overhead cables
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A DRIVER is to be interviewed by gardai over an incident in which his truck tore away a section of overhead DART cables and disrupted services for 15,000 commuters.
Full DART services will not be restored until at least this afternoon as high winds caused repair work to be suspended last night.
It was described by Iarnrod Eireann as the most significant damage to overhead lines from a single incident in the 25-year history of the DART service.
It happened when the lifting arm of the flatbed lorry snagged overhead wiring and struck barriers as it passed through the Merrion Gates Level Crossing in south Dublin at around 9.15am yesterday.
The truck also brought down an overhead Eircom telephone cable and uprooted two Eircom telephone poles.
However, the driver fled the scene after causing the damage and did not contact gardai.
The crash resulted in DART services between Lansdowne Road and Dun Laoghaire being suspended throughout the day.
Dublin to Gorey and Dublin to Rosslare services were also forced to operate with bus transfers between Dublin and Bray.
The incident sparked a garda hunt for the lorry driver and an appeal for witnesses to the crash to come forward.
Gardai confirmed they had made contact with the driver and that he would be coming in to make a statement on the matter early today. Iarnrod Eireann said eyewitnesses had provided gardaí with the registration plate, and it supplied them with CCTV footage to identify the man.
Idiotic
The company said the incident would probably result in a legal action.
"Iarnrod Eireann is confident that this idiotic and reckless piece of driving, which has caused such disruption to rail services, will result in prosecution," a spokesman said. He said Dublin Bus would honour all valid rail tickets for any DART customers forced to take a bus transfer.
Eircom had to suspend services to 25 customers because of damage to overhead wiring.
Meanwhile, AA Roadwatch advised motorists to avoid all approaches to the gates.
Iarnrod Eireann said over 800 metres of wiring on both rail lines as well as support structures were damaged in the incident.
- Patricia McDonagh
Irish Independent
