The “unacceptable behaviour” of vandals courted chaos on an Angus railway line at the weekend, it has emerged.
Commuters traveling south via Arbroath station were shocked by a sudden impact as their train collided with an object that had been left hanging in its path.
The 18:42 Inverurie to Edinburgh commercial service had hit something dangling from a footbridge which turned out to be an upright vacuum cleaner.
Fortunately the train suffered no damage and the driver was uninjured and fit to continue his journey. The next freight train was given a caution and was asked to examine the area, half a mile north of Arbroath station, near Dens Road.
The driver confirmed sight of a vacuum cleaner, which had clearly been struck, that was still on the track.
He removed the object, and with the assistance of members of the public untied the electrical flex which was still tied to and hanging from the footbridge. A local man who works in the area told The Courier he has “no doubt it was malicious.”
“Obviously when the train’s hit the thing it’s torn from the flex and that’s been left hanging,” said the man, who asked not to be named.
“It’s once in a blue moon obviously that these sort of things happen,” he added.
“At this time of year as the nights stretch out, there’s a lot of kids hang about by the side of the line. It’s a well-used footbridge from a housing scheme into the Dens Road industrial estate, and it would have been dusk at that point.”
A train had come into Arbroath at 7.25pm without incident, so there was a window of around 40 minutes to tie the vacuum cleaner to the railings.
The British Transport Police (BTP) were alerted and attended. A spokesman said: “We’ve had an incident reported from Arbroath.
“We got the call at 20:51 and the only information that we had was that the electrical appliance, which was a Hoover, was hanging from the footbridge and was removed by the driver.
“It’s been claimed as ‘unacceptable behaviour’ and is being looked into. Anyone with information should call British Transport Police on 0800 405040 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.”
The incident comes five months after a train was derailed at Inverkeilor.
Police thought an object was placed on the line deliberately, putting the lives of the 36 passengers and train driver on board the Edinburgh to Aberdeen CrossCountry train at risk.
Its front wheels left the line as it was passing through Inverkeilor at 9.45am on November 4 but no one was seriously hurt. Police are still hunting the culprits, despite a £25,000 reward on offer.