Two men have been arrested in Co Antrim on suspicion of deliberately causing a rail crash by abandoning a car on a level crossing.
A train carrying around 30 passengers ploughed into the car on the crossing at Dunloy, Co Antrim, late last night. It did not derail, and there were no reports of serious injuries.
The men responsible stood beside the crossing and watched the crash before running off, police said. It is understood the vehicle had not been stolen.
A senior officer branded the offenders "mindless and reckless" and said they were treating the offence as attempted murder.
The maroon Vauxhall Astra was abandoned on the level crossing at 10.40 last night. The driver of the train, which had left Belfast an hour earlier, spotted the car and began to slow.
But the train crashed into the car and carried it 400 metres down the track.
Detective Inspector Nick McCaw said: "There were around 30 people on the train, plus Northern Ireland Railways staff. If it hadn't been for the vigilance of the driver, lives could have been lost."
Det Insp McCaw said that, luckily, the diesel engine had been at the front of the train, took the impact and pushed the car up the track. If the train had been going in the opposite direction, the engine would have been at the rear pushing the carriages, he said, leading to a "much more serious incident."
The engine being at the front and the experience of the driver - who is also an NIR driver instructor - were the two factors which police believe stopped the train being derailed, he added.
"The driver, we believe, through his actions saved the lives of those on this train."
The driver had been traumatised by the crash, but was back home recovering, police said. Buses were used by NIR to get the passengers from the train and take them home.
The track remains closed today.
PA