Irish rail has warned that vandals interfering with overhead electric cables for the DART service in Dublin are risking death or serious injury.
The warning comes after rush-hour train services were severely disrupted by vandalism yesterday morning, the second time in two days.
The first attack was early on Sunday morning in the Dun Laoghaire area, resulting in suspended DART services until 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Early yesterday an attack on the system at Seapoint was discovered by the driver of a train at 5 a.m. Partial service was restored by 6.15 a.m. but full service was not running until 8.45 a.m.
Mr Barry Kenny, Irish Rail's public affairs manager, said the attacks represented a worrying trend. "It is also a very dangerous thing to interfere with overhead electric wires and we as a company would be seriously concerned that those engaging in vandalism are putting themselves at risk of death or serious injury."
He said Irish Rail would be stepping up patrols in co-operation with the gardai.
Fianna Fail TD for Dun Laoghaire Ms Mary Hanafin said the vandalism was "mindless" and was "carried out by cowards operating at night".
"Intentionally damaging overhead cables is a pathetic act and merely causes large-scale inconvenience for people who depend on the DART service," she added.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/8a09a42a-bf7b-491e-848d-432f8309b3fa.png)