A 21-year-old man was charged today with attempted murder following a rail crash in which a car was allegedly abandoned deliberately on the track.
Thirty passengers and the crew of a Northern Ireland Railways train had a narrow escape on Monday night when the train ploughed into the car at 80kph at the crossing at Dunloy, Co Antrim. They suffered shock but no physical injury.
The accused, from Claudy, Co Derry, appeared in court in Coleraine.
A woman arrested for questioning about the incident was released by police pending a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the spokesman. A second man arrested for questioning has been released without charge.
Police revealed after the crash that they were treating it as a case of attempted murder.
This was after they discovered that the car had not been left across the line, but lengthways along it.
The train hit the rear of the vehicle and shunted it over 350 yards down the track before coming to a halt.
"This was a completely mindless and reckless act. If it hadn't been for the vigilance of the driver, lives could have been lost," said Detective Chief Inspector Nick McCaw after the crash.