Vandals throw bicycle on overhead power lines to shut down DART service

Run_to_da_hills

Vandals throw bike on line and shut down power lines. As a result, power to the train was cut off and a locomotive had to be brought in to haul the train and its passengers back to Connolly Station. Work crews were busy throughout the night to get trains running again after thugs threw a bicycle on to overhead power lines near Killester Station.

Diesel locomotives do come in handy.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/vandals-throw-bike-on-line-to-shut--dart-1774873.html

Rawr

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Vandals throw bike on line and shut down power lines. As a result, power to the train was cut off and a locomotive had to be brought in to haul the train and its passengers back to Connolly Station. Work crews were busy throughout the night to get trains running again after thugs threw a bicycle on to overhead power lines near Killester Station.

Diesel locomotives do come in handy.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/vandals-throw-bike-on-line-to-shut--dart-1774873.html

Those little fupp'in grassholes! Next time they should do us all a favor and throw themselves onto the powerlines!

(Harsh....I know:pac:)

Davy

Some boards exclusive on board coverage: DART line north of Connolly closed due to vandalism

Run_to_da_hills

Rawr wrote: »

Those little fupp'in grassholes! Next time they should do us all a favor and throw themselves onto the powerlines!

(Harsh....I know:pac:)

If it was a 3rd rail system it wouldn't have happened. :pac:

dereko1969

Wonder if there's any CCTV coverage of the gits who did this, any objection to that being used RTDH?;)

murphaph

3rd rail is great because most of these dimwits fall foul of it sooner or later and Darwin takes over...

Bloody scumbags. It's sickening how public property is treated in Ireland. These goons (or their parents) should pay (or have their dole reduced) for the repair work if caught.

KevR

I hope the Gardai catch them!

Another reason why 3rd rail is good is that it's not unsightly like the overhead lines.

admiralofthefleet

would the nearest cctv be at the beachcomber? hopefully the gardaí have it and will catch the little scrotes

Mailman

do they not switch off the lines at might between 2 and 5?
The resistence in those wires must chomp huge amounts of electricity.

Carawaystick

Mailman wrote: »

do they not switch off the lines at might between 2 and 5?
The resistence in those wires must chomp huge amounts of electricity.

Resistance only uses power when there's a current flowing. The lines are 1500Vdc, there's no net current flowing, so no power being used.

P=VI, where P=Power in watts, V=potential difference in volts and I=current in amperes.

There would be losses in the system when the Darts are drawing their maximum current load. I'd imagine these losses are small w.r.t the total power of running the Dart system.

murphaph

and turning any such system on and off induces stresses into it which will eventually lead to a premature failure. better just to leave these things on.

todolist

Vandalism and thuggery flourishes in Dublin because the Police aren't interested.It's worse it's going to get with this inertia and laziness the Police show.Must be an Irish thing.

lostexpectation

would have thought they wouldn't mention that the bike snapped the line when the next dart hit it , give people ideas.

Run_to_da_hills

We can expect a lot more of this type of vandalsim with Dart lines when JC Decaux floods the city with more bicycles. :eek:

Even third rail would cause problems, Vandals that trespass are liable to stick to the rails if they are not careful. the safest option would be to go back to diesel.

KC61

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

We can expect a lot more of this type of vandalsim with Dart lines when JC Decaux floods the city with more bicycles. :eek:

Even third rail would cause problems, Vandals that trespass are liable to stick to the rails if they are not careful. the safest option would be to go back to diesel.

Please can we have less of this sensationalist nonsense.

DART has been here for 25 years and this is the first time that I can recall anyone ever throwing a bicycle onto the overhead wires. Yes there has been occasional vandalism, but you really are first rate at blowing it out of all proportion.

Capt'n Midnight

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

If it was a 3rd rail system it wouldn't have happened. :pac:

unless the bike landed on the rails,
which it would since there was no over head lines to prevent it.

Capt'n Midnight

Mailman wrote: »

do they not switch off the lines at might between 2 and 5?
The resistence in those wires must chomp huge amounts of electricity.

Same as having a socket at home with nothing plugged into it.

If the turned off the power at predictable intervals then the cable could be nicked. During electrification people actually stole the cable before it went live.

noelfirl

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

...the safest option would be to go back to diesel.

Much as I'm sure there would be many trainspotters relishing the prospect of some ancient, loud GM locomotive slowly accelerating and decelerating from station to station, the world of more modern rail technology is calling, and it doesn't really care for nostalgia. And that includes inefficiently using DMU's over DART or Metro like distances.

dermo88

Thanks noelfirl.

I have no problem with trainspotters. I do have misgivings when trainspotters come along and influence transport policy. This is one reason why we do not have a fully modern transport system. It is because, over the years, on one hand:

1. We have an assortment of people who think that a railway is a free audio-visual entertainment system.

2. We have an assortment of people who think that a railway is a social employment scheme.

Of course, when this is pointed out, its regarded as an abusive post, or attacking the poster. Its a sensitive issue. I do sympathise to a degree, but there is a problem when these systems, these services cost a lot of money to build and operate. They then need to compete with other services for funding. So on the other hand, there are :

1. An assortment of people who want it to function in accordance with the best Internationally accepted standards.

2. An assortment of people who want the assets to be sweated, and used to the best of their ability.

3. An assortment of people who want the best for the people of Ireland. Let me emphasise, Ireland. Not Dublin, not failrail, or palerail. Ireland.

Ancient shabby decrepit 40 year old diesel locomotives do not represent that in any shape or form whatsoever. They will not attract customers. They are a bad advertisement. Those who advocate their continued usage would have happily retained steam locomotives long past their time, and thats what finished the system in Northern Ireland, where a huge gap in the rail system remains as a result.

This is why Irishrailwaynews is no longer relevant, and is no longer Irishrailwaynews. This is why many of the former posters there are now writing here. This is why many of them don't really care anymore, because they are tired of repeating the same thing countering the same rubbish spouted by the same dysfunctional children year after year after year. They are tired of seeing meetings in Claremorris instead of Kildare Street. They are tired of the lies and the promises.

As a result, can the people who think logically, can they be blamed for engaging in mild sarcasm. There simply is no other way of countering it. If rail transport is to have a chance of thriving, then the Nigels and Anoraks with their thermos flasks need to be sent packing.

Thats the problem Ireland faces. Theres also a worse problem. Its the Anto's and "Pikey Mikey's who get away with vandalising essential public services, think its amusing and thats because they only get a slap on the wrists.

Run_to_da_hills

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

During electrification people actually stole the cable before it went live.

Certain people. The same breed of people swiped tens of thousands of pounds of wiring from the Tallaght hospital during its construction over a June bank holiday weekend.

Judgement Day

Dermo88 - I am, as usual, intrigued by your thoughts - these two in particular as to why we have no proper transport system.

1. 'We have an assortment of people who think that a railway is a free audio-visual entertainment system.' Where is there any evidence to support your claim that train spotters have ever had any influence over transport policy? It is vested interests and incompetent Pontius Pilate type politicians like Noel Dempsey that have things in their present state rather than the fossils in the IRRS and other anoraks.

2. 'We have an assortment of people who think that a railway is a social employment scheme.' This is a very valid point. Much of the work force in CIE/IE, from top to bottom, regard the railway as a place to mark time while they wait for their pension or the lump! The workers must have the lowest morale of any company that I have ever encountered, and the so-called management wouldn't last half an an hour in the private sector. The short sighted unions have no interest in the future of the railway as an employer, but just in getting the most in terms of good conditions and generous redundancy payments for their existing members.


www.irishrailways.blogspot.com

dermo88

What is there to be intrigued about. Lets have a look at some people.

Brian Guckian (for example), goes and states that hes an "Independent Transport Consultant. There are proposals for strange projects such as Corrib Light Rail. Waterford to New Ross Light Rail. Cork Light Rail. But no mention of Dublin.

The local county councillor goes wild with delight, thinking that this is another vote winner. They can dangle the carrot in front of the punters for election, after election, after election. This happened in Tallaght, Dundrum and Ballymun at every election since the 1970's onwards, after DART was announced and funded in 1979. They can then proceed to engage in the same strategy in Connaught, Kerry, Donegal and as a result, those in the Dept of Finance, or Transport will fail to take them seriously, and by extent, the projects that should get funding.

Vested interests such as Noel Dempsey do not help, bearing in mind the same clown was behind the e-voting machine fiasco. I agree. For example, looking at the blog http://irishrailways.blogspot.com I see that you wish for the remaining 22000 order to be cancelled, and the remaining Mark 3's to be refurbished. This would be shortsighted also, as Iarnrod Eireann learned in the 1980's, and they learn now, that they may as well take every red cent going, and spend it before its gone, for they won't get much for another 30 years. They can also get a standardised brand for Intercity, which has never happened before.

When these people, start proposing rails to Donegal, etc, and more, they take attention away from what requires fixing and improvement now. Its a case of misplaced priorities.

L1011

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

the safest option would be to go back to diesel.

Reactionary thinking after what is probably the first incident in 25 years. Rather like suggesting we go back to horse drawn vehicles due to the incident on the quays today.

dermo88

They'd like to go back to Diesel so the locosexuals can get their rocks off. This, in a way is a lot less harmful than the scum who throw rocks at DARTS and Commuter trains, and Enterprise.

PCPhoto

just neuter the scrotes that did it.....

seriously though .... these thugs need to be caught and prosecuted and justice needs to be seen to be done to try and deter others from copying.

I would agree that this may be copied ....after all...these cretins simple follow the "monkey see monkey do" philisophy of thinking.....and the fact that the matter is publicised give others the idea and method of doing similar.

I think we need to name and shame these criminals (some are underage and get away with murder - literally) -we need to allow them to be identified and if possible treat them as they behave (sub-human) - at the risk of offending people ..... why should someone who behaves sub-human be treated like a human..... european convention of human rights ....my asphalt !! ... lock 'em up and NO REMISSION.

(apologies for venting just have a problem with some "rogue elements" of society)

dermo88

Its the honest folk who get caught between the "wires" set by society that are the victims in this.

There are stonethrowers, and the Gardai cannot tackle them, because of a plethora of human rights laws. The people who carry out these deeds, they know all their rights, but know none of their responsibilities. They have no money, no chance in life, so they really have nothing to lose. They are still, nonetheless far better off than their peers in many underdeveloped nations who do not resort to such antics.

We have evolved from Hang em and flog em. We have evolved (thankfully) from the Industrial school system. There is a void, however, where there is no fear and no respect.

For example, have we heard what happened to "Pikey Mikey" and his antics with the ballast at Monasterevin Station in May 2008?

Pikey Mikey, and the scum who vandalised the wires yesterday are literally.

HUNDREDS of times more dangerous than a speeding motorist.
HUNDREDS of times more dangerous than a drink driver.
HUNDREDS of times more dangerous than someone breaking speed limits.
HUNDREDS of times more dangerous than someone breaking traffic lights.

We need a transport police to handle this. A division of the Gardai specifically designed to handle transport matters. We don't need another layer of beauracracy, but until this is dealt with, there will be a serious accident, by which time it will be too late and the horse will have bolted. The Irish government do not really care when they can use air corps helicopters, Garda escorts, and have police protection. What happens to the rest of us?

Reactive rather than proactive.

Ireland is a better country than most, even with this recession, so we have to keep some sense of perspective. I could fill in the demographic of the individuals involved.

1. Between 13 and 19.
2. Low academic achievement levels.
3. Low attention span.

I could engage in the typical stereotype of bad parenting, but my experience is that I have seen plenty of scumbags come from good families with good parents, who despaired of their offspring, and good people who came from dysfunctional families.

A balance has to be struck. Send them to Mountjoy, you create a worse criminal. Suspend the sentence, or give the probation act, then its like "I got away with it". We have to choose wisely how to solve this and nip it in the bud, no matter how strong our base desires for vigilantism or beatings might be.

dfx-

Reminds me of seeing tonight two Gardaí walking round Rialto onto the Crumlin Road/SCR across from Dolphin's Barn where a 'riot' is in the fairly recent past and no less than 6 months ago in the exact same spot I saw a 7-on-1 beating spread into the middle of the road. But they walked onto the road and started a spot check for tax and they stopped a cyclist to get him to get off and walk along with the bicycle...probably because 'it's dangerous'..

We've got our priorities right..

dermo88

dfx

Theres more going on there than meets the eye. In all likelihood, the 2 Gardai have called for backup, because they cannot handle a 7 on 1 riot alone. They are monitoring the situation, and what better way to do it. Keep a low profile, and then they'll be there when required. Its easy to knock them, and sometimes I think they are more than a glorified tax collection service, but by and large they do what they can with limited resources.

They probably know its a local scumbag getting his just desserts, and if thats the case, know nothing while watching.

barochoc

Back to the subject:

They were most certainly little scrotes & I hope the Gardai catch them.
I'd imagine Irish Rail or whoever is in charge want their heads on a block.
I'd love to see them hauled up before a judge & given a thousand hours
community service.

Imagine them scrapping chewing gum off the platforms all day for months.
Picking up cigarette butts & cleaning off graffiti. It would be great to see.

Sadly it most likely won't happen. Even if they have other offences they'll
probably get away with it by claiming "We were strung out yer honour"
"I'm a drud attic", "I need help te get back on me feet"

They know how to play the law better than any of us know our favorite sport.
Brain dead or clever? You tell me!

Guy:Incognito

dfx- wrote: »

Reminds me of seeing tonight two Gardaí walking round Rialto onto the Crumlin Road/SCR across from Dolphin's Barn where a 'riot' is in the fairly recent past and no less than 6 months ago in the exact same spot I saw a 7-on-1 beating spread into the middle of the road. But they walked onto the road and started a spot check for tax and they stopped a cyclist to get him to get off and walk along with the bicycle...probably because 'it's dangerous'..

We've got our priorities right..

What exactly are you saying here? That they should start a riot so they can arrest people? Or that instead if checking for people driving illegally, they should stare intently at the flats till a riot breakes out?

dermo88

My form of community service would be:

1. If you have problems getting off drugs, theres a special offer. Can you carry 10 Kilos of Heroin to Thailand via Dubai, Singapore and/or Malaysia. In return, you will get 50,000 Euro on "completion" ahem, of said trip.

2. The Garda National Drugs squad should have a spare supply ready for such "eventualities".

3. The Gardai talk to Immigration and Customs in Changi Airport. That way there is no chance of the drugs being "resold" by the police in either Dubai, Malaysia or Thailand (FYI, 33% of the drugs supply in Thailand comes from the police or military).

4. In the words of Joe Stalin "No more person, no more problem". Case closed.

Fill in the gaps. Sorry guys, but this does bring out the inner fascist in me at the best of times.

KevR

KC61 wrote: »

DART has been here for 25 years and this is the first time that I can recall anyone ever throwing a bicycle onto the overhead wires.

A bit off-topic but I was watching 'Traffic Blues' on RTE last Sunday and the Gardai attended an incident where a woman driving on the M1 hit an object thrown from an overbridge. They Gardai were saying there has been a rise in the number of these incidents lately.

Hopefully people throwing stuff onto motorways or railways will get caught and made an example of which would lead to a decline in these incidents before there is a serious car crash or train accident.

Run_to_da_hills

KevR wrote: »

A bit off-topic but I was watching 'Traffic Blues' on RTE last Sunday and the Gardai attended an incident where a woman driving on the M1 hit an object thrown from an overbridge. They Gardai were saying there has been a rise in the number of these incidents lately.

Hopefully people throwing stuff onto motorways or railways will get caught and made an example of which would lead to a decline in these incidents before there is a serious car crash or train accident.

There is only one way the authorities could try and prevent that and that is to fit sofisticated CCTV on all rail and road overbridges. The cnuts will still try to get away with it by wearing hoodies which would render the system useless and will only impose on our civil liberties,.

KevR

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

There is only one way the authorities could try and prevent that and that is to fit sofisticated CCTV on all rail and road overbridges. The cnuts will still try to get away with it by wearing hoodies which would render the system useless and will only impose on our civil liberties,.

I agree CCTV wouldn't be a big enough deterrent for these people to justify the expense of it being installed on a wide basis.

I'd love it if the next time someone throws something off a bridge the Gardai happened to be passing in an unmarked car. Busted!

Run_to_da_hills

KevR wrote: »

I agree CCTV wouldn't be a big enough deterrent for these people to justify the expense of it being installed on a wide basis.

I'd love it if the next time someone throws something off a bridge the Gardai happened to be passing in an unmarked car. Busted!

Better still if it was a metal bridge and the bicycle got wedged beteen the overheads and the bridge.

When I was a kid a guy from school threw a can of white paint on top of a passing train, the fan from the Metrovic blew the paint back up into his face.

Darwin might do us all a favour.

crocro

This is the kind of thing that 12 year olds have gotten up to since the invention of bridges. The solution is to cover the bridge in a steel cage as in Kilbarrack


I remember a steel chain being dropped on the DART cables in the 80s or early 90s on Christmas day when the power was off. I believe they decided never to power it down again.

Run_to_da_hills

crocro wrote: »

I remember a steel chain being dropped on the DART cables in the 80s or early 90s on Christmas day when the power was off. I believe they decided never to power it down again.

Better than powering it down would be to run DC through it. :eek:

SeanW

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Diesel locomotives do come in handy.

In this case, so to would a sniper rifle.