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Friday 21 Mar 2014

Cable theft disrupts Snow Hill line passengers

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Network Rail, London Midland and British Transport Police have appealed for help in tracking down cable thieves after passengers using the Snow Hill Lines between Stratford-upon-Avon, Shirley and Birmingham suffered more than 36 hours of disruption to rail services this week because of cable theft.

Thieves struck in the early hours of Wednesday morning (19 March) near Wood End, stealing seven separate lengths of cable including the power supply and signalling cables. Network Rail engineers worked over two nights to repair the damage with services returning to normal on Thursday evening.

Dyan Crowther, Network Rail’s route managing director, said: “I apologise to passengers for the disruption they suffered as a result of cable theft this week. We are working closely with British Transport Police to reduce cable theft on the railway and our efforts over the last few years have seen a marked drop in both the number of incidents and the resulting delays to passengers.

“However, when cable theft does happen, it is incredibly frustrating for passengers who are affected by the disruption. Cable theft is a serious criminal act and I would urge anyone who may have information on who may be responsible to contact the British Transport Police.”

Nationally, delays caused by cable theft have reduced significantly from its peak several years ago with the improvement down to a number of factors, including Network Rail and other infrastructure companies successfully lobbying for a change in legislation regarding buying and selling scrap metal and British Transport Police targeting thieves and unscrupulous scrap dealers buying stolen metal. Network Rail engineers are working with suppliers and other industries to make metal – particularly cables – harder to steal and easier to identify and are introducing new ways of working to reduce delay and fix thefts more quickly.

Terry Oliver, London Midland’s head of Snow Hill services, commented: “I sincerely apologise to passengers who were unable to travel on 19 and 20 March. This did not meet the high standard of performance and reliability I expect for passengers using the Snow Hill lines. I will be working closely with Network Rail, which has a shared obligation to deliver services to our passengers, to understand how we minimise the impact of such incidents in the future”.

Detective Inspector Kaz Miller of British Transport Police Detective added: "The theft of cable is not just an attack on the railway – it has a direct impact on the day-to-day lives of thousands of passengers with trains delayed or cancelled as a result.

“BTP has a dedicated team of officers working throughout the area to tackle this type of crime. We are also catching and prosecuting more cable thieves than ever before. However, this crime still poses a serious threat to the railway infrastructure and we will not become complacent.

“We will continue to take action and focus our resources to drive this type of crime down even further but we need your help. Did you witness anything suspicious? Do you know anyone involved in the theft of cable from the railway? If so, we want to hear from you.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact British Transport Police on Freefone 0800 40 50 40, or text 61016

Alternatively, information can be passed to the independent charity, Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111.