Hit-and-run driver damages level crossing on Maynooth line

There were delays this morning on the Maynooth rail line after a hit and run driver damaged a level crossing near Clonee in west Dublin.

CCTV footage posted by Irish Rail shows a 4x4 with a trailer holding a digger drive through the barriers at Barberstown just as they are coming down, at 8.50am.

A statement from Irish Rail says the “reckless driver” did not “react to the lights sequence before the barriers lowered by slowing down” but instead “went faster” and “did not stop, but instead fled the scene”.

Irish Rail has called on anybody with information to contact gardaí as the driver has not yet been identified.

There had been delays of up to 30 minutes while works to repair the crossing were ongoing, however a spokesperson for Irish Rail says the line is now back up and running without any delays.

The cost of the repair work is not yet known, but the “real cost to us is the significant delay in services caused by the incident,” Irish Rail said.

These kinds of incidents “do not happen too frequently,” but bridge strikes by large trucks are becoming more common.

In a statement released last month entitled ‘Dumb Truckers,’ Irish Rail said it has already recorded 68 incidents of trucks hitting bridges so far this year compared to 72 for the whole of 2012.

Bridge strikes are most frequent in the Dart area where there have been 25 incidents of bridges being hit already so far this year.