Double-decker bus crash not the first incident of its kind at Cork railway bridge
A Bus Éireann bus after colliding with the crash rail at a railway bridge at Dublin Hill, Cork.
A double-decker bus was left badly damaged after crashing into a railway bridge in Cork City on Monday, but this incident was not the first of its kind.
The railway bridge at Dublin Hill in Blackpool is in fact, a hot spot for accidents like this.
Shortly after 9am on Monday, a double-decker Bus Éireann vehicle struck the low bridge when heading for Blackpool.
The bus appeared to get wedged in the bridge and turned on its side, leaving the upper section of the vehicle completely destroyed.
The vehicle was out of service at the time, so no passengers were on board, but the driver was medically assessed following the incident.
A statement from Bus Éireann confirmed that an internal investigation will take place to establish the cause of the crash.
As a result of the crash, a Dublin Heuston train to Cork was delayed and the 9:25am Cork to Dublin Heuston train departed 30 minutes behind schedule also.
According to an Iarnród Éireann spokesperson, "the bridge was inspected by our engineers and there was no structural damage, so services were safe to resume."
In response to the incident, Independent Councillor Kenneth O'Flynn has called on Iarnród Éireann to solve the issue.
He said: "There has to be an entire upgrade of works, not only ground works, but either raising the line, or the lowering of the street level, and I believe that cost should be incurred by Irish Rail.
"Irish Rail now needs to install a number of signs and alerts telling people that they cannot go underneath the bridge at a certain height," he added.
Mr O'Flynn believes that the responsibility is on the shoulders of Iarnród Éireann because the company "collected an absolute fortune in development charges over the last 20 years via Cork City Council", and now is the time for action.
He said: "Anyone within the Kilbarry area who applied for any sort of planning permission, whether it be commercial, or putting in a back kitchen or an additional window, had to pay an additional development charge towards Irish Rail - for a rail station that was never developed, and was never delivered, despite various promises from Irish Rail."
"I think the incident that happened yesterday with the bus was a mishap, it was negligence on the driver's side. I'm delighted that nobody was hurt, I'm delighted that nobody was injured.
"It's now time for action because we've had so many trucks stuck under that bridge over the last number of years. we've had so many problems there."
Almost exactly three years ago, on June 11, 2020, a similar incident occurred. This time, a lorry hit the bridge and overturned.
The road was closed and emergency services were deployed to the scene.
No injuries were reported but bus services were diverted.
In a statement at the time Bus Éireann said: "Due to an incident on Dublin Hill in Cork, Route 207A cannot operate via Blackpool and will instead operate via North Ring Road in both directions."
AA Roadwatch also urged motorists to "take caution on approach."
The following month, on July 15, 2020, another truck got stuck under the same bridge.
It is understood that it took almost 40 minutes to safely reverse the articulated lorry from under the bridge.
In an interview with the Evening Echo regarding the incident, Sinn Féin Councillor Mick Nugent said he thought this was the third time in the past six months a lorry driver had attempted to take the Dublin hill road with a large load.
Back then, in the summer of 2020, he called for more signage to prevent further issues, yet an almost identical incident occurred just yesterday.
He also expressed concern about the stability of the bridge, which has been struck several times since.
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