Overhead lines down - DART disrupted

Judgement Day

So the gardai have tracked down the guilty party and he will be coming in to see them! Only in Ireland - why wasn't he arrested for leaving the scene of an accident which could of have endangered the lives of other road users/pedestrians?

Slideshowbob

perhaps he was unaware of what happened?

Hungerford

Slideshowbob wrote: »

perhaps he was unaware of what happened?

And there was I thinking that the bright flash, the sparks and the trailing wires would have been a hint even for the most unobservant motorist...

Slideshowbob

Hungerford wrote: »

And there was I thinking that the bright flash, the sparks and the trailing wires would have been a hint even for the most unobservant motorist...

if he saw it maybe he was in shock sp drove on?

Does that give Iarnrod Eireann the right to call him an idiot and act as judge and jury. How unprofessional of the PR people in IR

Brian Capture

typical truck driver crap

they've often done this

plus the b*stards are rarely if ever killed in RTAs.

they can shove their "shock" and "minor injuries" up their holes.

Slideshowbob

Brian Capture wrote: »

typical truck driver crap

they've often done this

plus the b*stards are rarely if ever killed in RTAs.

they can shove their "shock" and "minor injuries" up their holes.

I'm not a truck driver but I often thought of some of the difficult reversing manuovres they achieve and wonder how they do it.

Do you wish more truck drivers were killed in RTAs?

Anyway - we will probably hear no more of this. Anyone remember the overturned truck at the o2 a few years back that held up traffic in all directions for most of the day and probably cost millions in lost productivity as people were stuck in their vehicles? Were any prosections brought there?

dermo88

After being subjected to the transfer from Platform 2 at Connolly, then a bus to Bray, then a walk getting pelted in the rain to Platform 2 in Bray, my exact words were.

"I hope they find the 4ucker, and hook him up to the wires. 1500 Volts should sort him out good and proper"

Extreme, a bit to the right of Attila the Hun, but hey, thats just me at the time.

I got a nice seat from Bray to Gorey on the 18:30 (30-12) and after that I was grand.

101sean

The next picture that was published clearly shows the truck's Hiab type crane still raised over it's container load. It wasn't resting on top like they sometimes do, it was raised well above, like he had lifted the load on, tied it down and forgot to stow the crane.

A Dub in Glasgo

Feckin arsehole... fareplay to IE for calling at it is

Greenman

Judgement Day wrote: »

So the gardai have tracked down the guilty party and he will be coming in to see them! Only in Ireland - why wasn't he arrested for leaving the scene of an accident which could of have endangered the lives of other road users/pedestrians?

How right you are!!!

The land where the good people suffer

DWCommuter

The IE press release was unprofessional and arrogant. Definately looks like one written while on the sauce or by some knobjockey apprentice to a "holidaying" Barry Kenny.

Yes the truck driver is in the wrong. Yes he should be punished. But for the operator to react in such a fashion brings them down to a level where they should actually take their medicine in a similarly "amateur" way, when they **** up royally, instead of talking down to the customers complaining.

Infini

I couldnt give 2 hoots if its unprofessional or not whoever said it was spot on the mark at the sheer stupidity of that truck driver not ONLY goin where he shouldnt have gone but also running off immediately. I mean what if someone was walking across those crossing and this was the middle of the normal rush hour someone couldve been cut in half by the sheer force of those cables snapping or electrocuted by the sheer amount of electricity goin tru those cable. And what about all the people who were stuck on that dart between Booterstown/Blackrock. All imma say anymore is anyone whos whinging about the earlier "unprofessional" statement really need to get their priorities strait someone couldve died its just sheer luck noone was injured or killed!

DWCommuter

Infini wrote: »

I couldnt give 2 hoots if its unprofessional or not whoever said it was spot on the mark at the sheer stupidity of that truck driver not ONLY goin where he shouldnt have gone but also running off immediately. I mean what if someone was walking across those crossing and this was the middle of the normal rush hour someone couldve been cut in half by the sheer force of those cables snapping or electrocuted by the sheer amount of electricity goin tru those cable. And what about all the people who were stuck on that dart between Booterstown/Blackrock. All imma say anymore is anyone whos whinging about the earlier "unprofessional" statement really need to get their priorities strait someone couldve died its just sheer luck noone was injured or killed!

Happy New Year!

Its a corporate thing. Businesses cannot and should not react in a way similar to how Joe Public would react. Furthermore Irish Rail are the very same people who would condemn an "amateurish" reaction to their own regular stupidity. Its only a small point, but an important one. Hic!

Happy New Year again. What year is it?:D

dermo88

well.....if we look at Michael O'Leary, hes a complete wanker for saying it as it is, but hes got the most successful Irish brandname at the time of writing. Perhaps its time they said it as it is, but then......they (Irish Rail) would be Turkeys voting for Christmas.

Run_to_da_hills

If Dart had been third rail none of this would have happened. :pac:

A Dub in Glasgo

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

If Dart had been third rail none of this would have happened. :pac:

If the Dart was not built, none of this would have happened :pac:

Rulmeq

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

That's a very unprofessional statement from a company :eek:
Almost as bad as the driver :pac:

I've noticed the language from CIE about bridge strikes has been really derogatory. Someone hit a bridge near Grand Canal Dock, either barrow street or the next one over, and they said "It would take a particular class of a moron to not realise that the bridge was low" or words to that effect.

It's probably part of their strategy to get drivers to think, being called an idiot or moron in the papers and on the news isn't a career goal for most people.

Terrontress

If I were the driver, I'd move to have any criminal proceedings halted as the Irish Rail press releases have already branded me guilty which prevents impartial trial.

bmaxi

Terrontress wrote: »

If I were the driver, I'd move to have any criminal proceedings halted as the Irish Rail press releases have already branded me guilty which prevents impartial trial.

If we have pictures of him doing it and he admits he was the driver; is that not a guilty plea?

Terrontress

bmaxi wrote: »

If we have pictures of him doing it and he admits he was the driver; is that not a guilty plea?

Not if his crane was malfunctioning or someone had interfered with it en route or some other nonsense to leave it up without his knowledge. Or if the height restriction was not properly signed.

I'm not defending this joker in any way but Irish Rail should not be making such comments on something which could, and should, result in a criminal trial. It's fine for the rest of us to call him an idiot or a moron.

By the way, wasn't there a similar idiot who ripped all the lighting from the roof of the Jack Lynch tunnel with his Hiab a few years back? If I recall correctly he was Polish and got away very lightly once traced.

bmaxi

Terrontress wrote: »

Not if his crane was malfunctioning or someone had interfered with it en route or some other nonsense to leave it up without his knowledge. Or if the height restriction was not properly signed.

Not a defence, I would imagine. In the same way as if a Garda, does you for bald tyres it is not a defence to say you didn't know they were bald.
As a former truck driver I can assure you that it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that everything on board complies with the law. I can't imagine, although I've no experience of the unit, that the crane would not have a failsafe device or warning signal if it was incorrectly deployed. If either of these systems were not working or bypassed in some way, it still amounts to negligence on the part of the driver.

Rulmeq

Terrontress wrote: »

If I were the driver, I'd move to have any criminal proceedings halted as the Irish Rail press releases have already branded me guilty which prevents impartial trial.

It's highly unlikely this would end up in front of a jury. This would be dealt with at the district court level, as a traffic violation surely.

Run_to_da_hills

Rulmeq wrote: »

It's highly unlikely this would end up in front of a jury. This would be dealt with at the district court level, as a traffic violation surely.

Leaving the scene of an accident is a criminal. In the UK I could see it go before a jury, they had a number of serious rail incidents caused by driver negligence.

Rulmeq

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Leaving the scene of an accident is a criminal. In the UK I could see it go before a jury, they had a number of serious rail incidents caused by driver negligence.

But more than likely still not a jury case?

Wreck

Is the DART running properly again yet? Cant find confirmation on the website.

Edit: Alcohol really must kill braincells, apparently it is back up - http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/travel_alerts.asp?action=view&news_id=602

Slideshowbob

This driver could have made an innocent mistake with the lifting arm, not realised he caused the 'lightening', or panicked when he saw it and drove on.

Hence, maybe an innocent mistake was made in his work duties. Has what the bankers done to this country been so innocent? Have an of them been pursured to such an extent by public institutions?

Relevant

Slideshowbob wrote: »

This driver could have made an innocent mistake with the lifting arm, not realised he caused the 'lightening', or panicked when he saw it and drove on.

Hence, maybe an innocent mistake was made in his work duties. Has what the bankers done to this country been so innocent? Have an of them been pursured to such an extent by public institutions?

Ugh

SeanW

Slideshowbob wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/gardai-to-question-trucker-in-dart-debacle-1994779.html

So big faceless organisation - Iarnrod Eireann, can call names to a someone who made a mistake.

Playing devils advocate? Seriously. There are (or used to be) ads all over the place reminding truck drivers to "know your height" the person should also have been a professional driver who is supposed to know what the **** they're doing. So after being at best a total gob****e, he then fled the scene of the accident that seriously screwed things up for a lot of people. Damn straight he deserves everything he gets, of which a bit of name calling should be the least of it.

Anyone who drives a truck knows by common logic that there will be low bridges and wires of all kinds to go under (unless they're totally thick) so there is no excuse.

I wonder if they are into name calling for those who failed to inspect the Malahide estuary bridge properly or those who were found to be pilphering the organisation as revealed by the CAAG earlier this year??

Yes. I am. And so, I image, are most others on this thread.

Run_to_da_hills

Slideshowbob wrote: »

This driver could have made an innocent mistake with the lifting arm, not realized he caused the 'lightening', or panicked when he saw it and drove on.

Isn't there an audible beep or flashing red light inside the cab when the jib is up?

Slideshowbob

SeanW wrote: »

I wonder if they are into name calling for those who failed to inspect the Malahide estuary bridge properly or those who were found to be pilphering the organisation as revealed by the CAAG earlier this year??

The 'they' I was referring to was IR!

Run_to_da_hills

Slideshowbob wrote: »

SeanW wrote: »

I wonder if they are into name calling for those who failed to inspect the Malahide estuary bridge properly or those who were found to be pilphering the organisation as revealed by the CAAG earlier this year??

The 'they' I was referring to was IR!

The pot calling the kettle black.

kravmaga

Slideshowbob wrote: »

This driver could have made an innocent mistake with the lifting arm, not realised he caused the 'lightening', or panicked when he saw it and drove on.

Hence, maybe an innocent mistake was made in his work duties. Has what the bankers done to this country been so innocent? Have an of them been pursured to such an extent by public institutions?

We are not talking about the Bankers here, that's an entirely different matter, but for what its worth they should have all been locked up.

This would not happen in any other country, e.g. Poland have CBA and these guys dont mess around.

Back to the truck driver, eh Yes he should have his day in court and plead his case / defence what ever petty excuse he will find and use. But as the driver should have done a course recently called CPC= Certificate of Professional Competence, he should be aware of the specification of the vehicle he is driving, ie laden weight, unladen weight, height, width etc etc.

Its debatable whether he intentionally set out to destroy so much property and infrastructure in the first instance but leaving the scene is a complete NO NO.

He will have his day in court.

kravmaga

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

If Dart had been third rail none of this would have happened. :pac:

+1 100%

Slideshowbob

Slideshowbob wrote: »

This driver could have made an innocent mistake with the lifting arm

He could have. I once made an innocent mistake of not changing my tail light. Didn't stop the guard from issuing a warning. That's not a defence.

sdonn

sdonn wrote: »

No. We need to get rid of the fúcking level crossings.

Irish Rail did look at this before but land costs in D4 were too prohibitive to allow it.

IRISH RAIL

Imagine if the driver had the window rolled down and was touching the body of the truck??
We would probably have a very different thread.
Lets just say hes and Idiot a big feckin one at that but he is still alive.

besids the lads working got some semi state overtime like gold these days:eek:

Terrontress

IRISH RAIL wrote: »

Imagine if the driver had the window rolled down and was touching the body of the truck??
We would probably have a very different thread.
Lets just say hes and Idiot a big feckin one at that but he is still alive.

besids the lads working got some semi state overtime like gold these days:eek:

As long as his feet weren't touching the ground, he'd be fine. Like a crow sitting on the DART cable.

Slideshowbob

Terrontress wrote: »

As long as his feet weren't touching the ground, he'd be fine. Like a crow sitting on the DART cable.

what about a pigeon?

kravmaga

Slideshowbob wrote: »

what about a pigeon?

Well a pigeon would more than likely be sh1tting on the cable,:D

Cookie_Monster

Terrontress wrote: »

As long as his feet weren't touching the ground, he'd be fine. Like a crow sitting on the DART cable.

wrong, watch that top gear that proves that assumption wrong.

Its the metal shell of a car/truck that protects you rather than the rubber tyres, which have no effect

dowlingm

Third rail on a line prone to flooding? :rolleyes:

Run_to_da_hills

dowlingm wrote: »

Third rail on a line prone to flooding? :rolleyes:

How often has the Dart line been flooded? :rolleyes:

Brian Capture

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Do you wish more truck drivers were killed in RTAs?

Not really - but it's annoying the way they continually evade injury especially considering that they are at fault for a good few accidents. Particularly involving cyclists.

Terrontress

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

wrong, watch that top gear that proves that assumption wrong.

Its the metal shell of a car/truck that protects you rather than the rubber tyres, which have no effect

I am not sure about the metal or the rubber but I thought that if you are not touching the ground you can have the electric coursing through you which I think is different to what you are saying.

I must caveat the above with the fact that I know absolutely nothing about electricity, metal or rubber.

Carawaystick

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

wrong, watch that top gear that proves that assumption wrong.

Its the metal shell of a car/truck that protects you rather than the rubber tyres, which have no effect

Was top gear showing lightening or 1500VDC?
the gaussian cage only really protects against one of those....

dowlingm

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

How often has the Dart line been flooded? :rolleyes:

You might get away with it on the Malahide-Interconnector stretch assuming someone has figured out how to deal with viaducts but the stretch from Merrion Gates to Dun Laoghaire does flood because the sea is immediately adjacent.

The number of LCs on the line is significant - with OHLE you have continuous power - with third rail cars essentially coast across the gap which works with long sets but less so with 2-4 cars.

Also, incursions onto the alignment become much more hazardous if some drunk fool wanders on there at 3am. See Lee vs Chicago Transit Authority.

Here in Toronto we occasionally have problems with rubbish blowing onto the subway 600VDC third rail and, where there is open cuts, the snow piling onto it. If and when the heavy rail network is switched to electric locos or EMUs, it will be 25kV AC overhead.

Cookie_Monster

Terrontress wrote: »

I am not sure about the metal or the rubber but I thought that if you are not touching the ground you can have the electric coursing through you which I think is different to what you are saying.

I must caveat the above with the fact that I know absolutely nothing about electricity, metal or rubber.

but as the truck is touching the ground and you're touching the outside I presume you'll get zapped too.

This is presumption though

Cool Mo D

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

wrong, watch that top gear that proves that assumption wrong.

Its the metal shell of a car/truck that protects you rather than the rubber tyres, which have no effect

Inaccurate! What "protects" you is not forming part of the path of least resistance to the ground for electric current. The current must flow to ground through the tyres, which are conductive. If your feet are on the ground, you are increasing your chance of being part of the best route for electricity to flow through.
Be warned that electricity does not solely follow one path to the ground, but in fact takes lots of possible paths, with the highest flow through the path of lowest resistance - this is why you will get burned if you stand next to a lightning strike, even if the main bolt misses you by a little.