Monday 15 Apr 2013
43% drop in cable theft incidents in East Midlands
- Region & Route:
31 incidents of cable theft on East Midlands Route in 2012/13
Delay to passengers and equates to 219 hours
Compensation cost tops £1m
Years of work to tackle the issue of metal theft on the railway in the east midlands has seen incident numbers drop, though delay to passengers has actually increased in the past year.
Justin Page, route managing director for Network Rail, said: “These figures show why we are not complacent that cable theft is a thing of the past. Last year delay to passengers and freight trains on the East Midlands route totalled more than 200 hours. That is not acceptable.
“Just four cable theft incidents accounted for 116 hours of our delay in the past financial year. This is because they were at the south end of our route which is much busier than the north and delay racks up more quickly. I am confident that the work we are completing to protect these key locations will result in a reduction in delay to passengers in East Midlands.”
“We also continue to work with British Transport Police to identify thieves and bring them to justice. Our own engineers are working with suppliers and other industries to make metal – particularly our cables – harder to steal and easier to identify. Teams around the route are introducing new ways of working to reduce delay and fix thefts more quickly; and, of course, I want to thank members of the public who are reporting suspicious activity, allowing us to react quickly and minimise delay.”
Detective Chief Inspector Gill Murray, of British Transport Police, said: “The significant reductions during the past 12 months are encouraging and are testament to the work done by police and partner agencies to increase the risk of detection and prosecution to offenders, whilst also reducing the potential rewards for their criminal behaviour.
“We cannot, however, take our eye off the ball and will continue to develop initiatives and tactics to make life even more challenging for thieves and unscrupulous metal recyclers.
“Tackling metal theft in an effective manner is now embedded across police forces and within several industries and, with new legislation due to come into force later this year, there can be no doubt that the UK remains committed to tackling a crime which strikes at the very heart of its infrastructure.”
Notes to editors
East Midlands route figures
2012/13
13 incidents
13, 156 delay minutes
£1, 017, 894 compensation cost
2011/12
23 incidents
3, 569 delay minutes
£95, 024 compensation cots
Two maintenance depots cover the East Midlands route. Figures for each are detailed below:
Derby depot
2012/13
9 incidents
6,194 delay minutes
£260,809 compensation cost
2011/12
21 incidents
3, 206 delay minutes
£88, 521 compensation cots
Bedford depot
2012/13
4 incidents
6, 962 delay minutes
£757,085 compensation cost
2011/12
2 incidents
363 delay minutes
£6, 503 compensation costs
1 Delay minutes show the inconvenience experienced by the passenger and freight services and vary with each incident. If the theft is on a busy mainline then they rack up much quicker than on quieter suburban lines
* Compensation costs (known as schedule 8 costs) are paid to train and freight operators for the disruption caused by the delay. This payment is to reimburse the operators who pay in advance for access to the track which the theft has prevented; to cover additional staff and other costs and to reimburse passengers who have been affected. This is a substantial part of the cost to the industry of cable theft but does not include the cost of staff time to repair and replace the cable, replacement cable itself and the cost of mitigation measures such as security patrols and investment in new technology. The amount of compensation paid depends on the type of services delayed.
Legislation
It is already illegal to sell scrap metal for cash – this legislation was introduced in December 2012.
Network Rail supported the Private Member's Bill introduced by Richard Ottaway MP to regulate scrap metal dealers. The Bill was passed in February 2013 and the act will become enforceable as the Scrap Metal Dealer's Act in autumn 2013.
The Home Office is issuing guidance to councils, police, the legal services and all those involved with the implementation of the Act, the key features of which are:
- Scrap metal dealers must be licensed and local authorities have the power to refuse unsuitable applicants and revoke licences
- Police have the power by court order to close unlicensed scrap yards
- All sellers of metal must show verifiable ID which dealers must record and retain
- Cash trades for scrap metal are now illegal without exception and subject to unlimited fines
- A public national register of scrap metal dealers will be created to help make sure that sales of scrap metal are accounted for and that all people trading scrap are doing so legitimately.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office -London North Eastern & East Midlands route
01904 383180
mediarelations@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk