Stray animals and bomb scares among reasons for delays on Irish Rail services

Ken Foxe

Bomb scares, kids throwing stones, sun glare and animals wandering on the tracks contributed to nearly 2,000 hours’ worth of delays on Irish Rail services over the past two years.

The rail operator said more than 7,500 trains were hit by delays caused by miscellaneous, unusual, or external obstruction incidents in 2024 and 2025.

Even simple incidents like a tree falling could have enormous knock-on effects, according to data released under FOI.

In 2024, one fallen tree caused 6,400 minutes – or 106 hours of delay – across 251 different services.

The single biggest delay occurred last year when a passenger fell ill on board, leading to 8,736 minutes of delay across 623 trains.

Trespassers on lines caused repeated incidents, Irish Rail said.

In one incident in 2024, there were 590 separate services delayed for a combined total of around 113 hours because of people on train tracks.

Stray animals wandering onto railway lines were another frequent cause of disruption.

Livestock and domestic pets accounted for hundreds of delayed services during 2024 and 2025 as they strayed onto the lines.

Bridge strikes were also a regular issue as trucks or cars collided with railway bridges, forcing trains to wait until the structure was checked or made safe.

Irish Rail’s incident log showed that such incidents delayed almost five hundred train services in 2024 alone.

Vandalism and anti-social behaviour also appeared as ongoing problems.

There were delays caused by people throwing stones at trains while other incidents involved objects being left on tracks or debris obstructing overhead power lines.

Irish Rail also logged bomb alerts, fires near railway lines, and landslides as the causes of disruption for trains.

Fog, lightning strikes, storms, flooding, and snow were all recorded as contributing to delays, sometimes affecting dozens of services.

More unusual causes included strong sun glare affecting driver visibility and one where a person was sitting with their legs over a platform.

Other cases included “unauthorised disembarkment,” passengers who got on the wrong service, and others holding doors open.

One incident of “scutting” where a person clung onto the outside of a carriage was listed, leading to a short delay on one service.

Irish Rail also logged people interfering with safety equipment, objects placed in door runners, and serious graffiti that required a train to be taken out of service.