Bomb scares, children throwing stones, sun glare and animals wandering on to the tracks contributed to nearly 2,000 hours of delays on Irish Rail services over the past two years.
The rail operator said more than 7,500 trains were hit by delays caused by miscellaneous, unusual, or external obstruction incidents in 2024 and 2025.
Even simple incidents such as a tree falling could have enormous knock-on effects, according to data released under Freedom of Information legislation.
In 2024, one fallen tree caused 6,400 minutes – or 106 hours of delay – across 251 different services.
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The single biggest delay occurred last year when a passenger fell ill on board a train, leading to 8,736 minutes of delay across 623 services. Trespassers on lines caused repeated incidents, said Irish Rail.
In one 2024 incident, there were 590 separate services delayed for a combined total of about 113 hours because of people on train tracks.
Stray animals, including livestock and domestic pets, wandering on to lines were another frequent cause of disruption.
Bridge strikes were also a regular issue as trucks or cars collided with them, forcing trains to wait until the structure was checked or made safe.
Irish Rail’s incident log showed that such incidents delayed almost five hundred train services in 2024 alone.
Vandalism and antisocial behaviour were also ongoing problems.
There were delays caused by people throwing stones at trains, although other incidents involved objects being left on tracks or debris obstructing overhead power lines.
The company logged bomb alerts, fires near railway lines, and landslides as further causes of disruption.
Fog, lightning strikes, storms, flooding, and snow were all recorded as contributing to delays, sometimes affecting dozens of services.
More unusual causes included strong sun glare affecting driver visibility and one instance where a person was sitting with their legs over a platform.
Other cases included “unauthorised disembarkment” – passengers who got on the wrong service and others holding doors open.
One incident of “scutting”, where a person clings on to the outside of a carriage, was listed as leading to a short delay.
Irish Rail also logged people interfering with safety equipment, objects placed in door runners, and serious graffiti that required a train to be taken out of service.
