Bus Éireann is to investigate how one of its double-decker buses came to hit a bridge in Cork city on Monday morning, resulting in traffic and rail disruption for a period.
Nobody was injured when the bus, which was out of service, struck the rail bridge on the main Cork to Dublin line at Dublin Hill, on the northern outskirts of the city at around 9.15am.
The driver of the bus was shaken but uninjured after the bus struck the arch of the bridge and partially toppled on its side as it was coming down the hill.
It is understood that double-decker buses do not normally travel down Dublin Hill due to clearance issues with the bridge.
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Several units of Cork City Fire Brigade attended the scene to assist with the removal of the bus, which was expected to take a number of hours, while HSE paramedics treated the driver for shock.
Bus Éireann said in a statement that the bus was out of service so there were no passengers on board. The incident resulted in bus services between Glenthorn and the city centre being diverted.
The transport company said that the Glenthorn to Merchant’s Quay service will not serve Dublin Hill or Blackpool until the road reopens and that may take some time as efforts continue to remove the bus from the road.
Iarnrod Éireann said the incident led to a 30-minute delay on the 9.25am Cork to Dublin train while engineers carried out an inspection, which found there was no structural damage to the bridge.
The Dublin Hill bridge was the scene of a similar incident in June 2020 when a rigid lorry became trapped under the bridge and the uninjured driver had to be helped from his cab by firefighters.
