[30-31/12/2009] DART services Lansdowne to Dun Laoghaire
 

Per IR Twitter

On the website

Dec 30th DART disrupted
 

From IE website

"30th December: DART suspended Lansdowne Rd to Dun Laoghaire, truck damages overhead wires at Merrion by Corporate Communications


30th December, UPDATE 10.20hrs

DART services are currently suspended between Lansdowne Rd and Dun Laoghaire, due to a truck causing major damage to Merrion Gates and overhead wires.

Dublin Bus will accept rail tickets for customers whose travel is disrupted.

Iarnród Éireann apologises for the inconvenience caused. DART services are operating from Howth/Malahide to Lansdowne Road, and from Greystones/Bray to Dun Laoghaire.

Unfortunately, it is not expected that services will return to normal before 6pm this evening.

12.05 Connolly to Gorey is also cancelled, although other Gorey/Rosslare services are expected to operate normally.

The genius truck driver in question had a lifting arm on the back of the truck which pulled down barriers, and extensive overhead wiring (as well as phone wiring in the area), and he subsequently fled the scene. Prosecution will follow."

For once an IE announcement which pulls no punches. Let's hope they find the idiot.

Indeed, that sounds like a lot of work to fix too.

EDIT: RTE news says it will be 6pm before services resume

Merrion Gates itself is obviously closed to traffic as a result

The juice is off between Sandymount and Blackrock so any train stranded is stranded.

Edit: the morning Rosslare Connolly diesel train should be somewhere near Dun Laoghaire so it could drag the stranded DART's back, problem is a 3 coach railcar isn't really up to dragging a 8 coach DART

That's OK, DARTs were virtually all 4 coaches this morning.

Incidentally, what a complete langer. That level crossing must be one of the most heavily signposted in the country. Surely someone driving for a living in the Dublin area must at least have some small measure of cop-on that there are overhead wires around.

The least Irish Rail can do is release the video from the CCTV of this idiot so we can

a) Validate the facts
b) Assist in the location of the vehicle

The vast majority of haulage drivers are self employed, with or without their own vehicle. There is a material lack of employer supervision..

It seems the vehicle was abandoned at the scene.

Bad news folks!

http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/...ew&news_id=602

The situation is pretty bad, weather is appalling currently watching 30+ foot waves crash over Dun Laoghaire harbour, so the situation down at Merrion Gates would be rough

An 8 coach DART is stranded between Blackrock and Booterstown, no way to recover it before the power is back on, even then its likely to waterlogged from waves crashing over the sea wall and require a tow out

Good to see the real time program as reliable as ever in these circumstances :rolleyes:

As amusing as IR's notices are, do they not constitute slander/libel for which the driver in question could sue?
(Though I note that the notice on the website now omits the sarcastic words "the genius").

Is he not a genius?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1230/dart.html

This is useful for finding alternative buses:

http://www.mkmap.com/dublin
http://www.dublinbus.ie

Given Irish Rail have at least 4 CCTV cameras on Merrion Gates it would take only a matter of seconds to confirm the facts and yes the driver of the truck is an idiot and in breach of several laws

Failure to obey level crossing warning (Road Safety Act)
Failure to report damage to railway infrastructure (Rail Safety Act)
Leaving the scene of an accident (Road Safety Act)

No doubt further investigation will reveal that the truck and or driver shouldn't have been on the road in the first place

The video should be fun, given the rain the shower of sparks when the overhead wire is shorted out will make for interesting viewing.

Got to love the line
Yes its on the truck entangled in the wires


Bus options

City
Bray - 145 or 84
all stops to Blackrock 4/4a/7
Dun Laoghaire 7 (46a takes 20 minutes longer)

Disembark Pearse, up Westland Row, then left and right and left again onto Merrion Square, bus stop at American College for 4/4a/7/84, 145 stop is Nassau Street

I see that IE don't expect to have things fixed this evening. I'm not surprised, given the weather. The full force of the Easterly gale and the low temperatures must make for truly awful conditions at Merrion Gates. I think anyone working in such exposed conditions deserves our admiration and our thanks. I know they are only doing their job, but what a job on a day like this.

Yes well said. Surprised its not snowing out there given how cold it is although the wind chill effect prob makes it feel colder than it actually is.

If there were spare locomotives in Dun L/ Bray this could have helped by hauling the stranded 8 coach darts!

All credit to Irish Rail, for the first time a snap shot of a level crossing incident

http://twitpic.com/vwb96

There are at least 2 other camera angles at a lower level to catch registration plates

Solution:

1. Take some Interconnector spoil
2. Infill a stretch from here to here
3. Extend Strand Road along the infill and via an overbridge to the junction of Trimleston Road and Rock Road (maybe build a nice boardwalk or something on the seaward side)
4. Close Strand Road LC.

Now if only we could do that for the remaining LCs on that line - but at least this way doesn't require levelling an Ailesbury Road mansion :D :D :D With a bit of courage to face down the enviroweenies the infill and boardwalk could be done all the way to Dun Laoghaire to reduce the number of times Seapoint gets flooded.

Latest news is Thursday afternoon as the weather has put an end to work tonight