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Wednesday 14 Jan 2009

PUBLIC ASKED: HELP US STOP THIEVES DISRUPTING YORKSHIRE TRAIN SERVICES

Region & Route:

Since April 2008 thieves have targeted vital railway equipment in north and west Yorkshire almost five times a week. South Yorkshire has been targeted a similar number of times. The shocking figures were today released by Network Rail as it joined firces with train operators, British Transport Police and the charity Crimestoppers to ask for help from the public to prevent more delays.

David Pape, route director for Network Rail, explained: "Despite the falling price of scrap metal and additional security measures in place, the theft of cables used in signalling systems on the railway remains a major source of delay to passengers and cost to the industry. We are determined to do all we can to stop these thieves - including building a new depot to help us respond more quickly when a theft does occur.

"However this is a battle we cannot win on our own and today we have announced a new partnership with the charity Crimestoppers which will allow us to offer up to £1,000 reward to anyone who helps bring about the conviction of these selfish thieves who are bringing misery to many hundreds of rail travellers in the north east."

Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111.

Detective Inspector Brian Buddo leads the British Transport Police (BTP) dedicated team of officers charged with tacking metal theft in Yorkshire and the North East. He said: “In 2008 BTP made almost 600 arrests across the country in relation to metal theft and we are continuing to use a wide range of tactics to prevent, deter and detect this type of crime.

“We are dedicated to doing all we can to tackle metal theft but we can’t do it alone. The public has an important part to play. If you have information about metal thieves who are stealing from the railway network then call Crimestoppers anonymously and tell us - we’re not interested in your name, only theirs.”

Steve Butcher, Area Director, Northern Rail said: “Cable theft had a big impact on our services in 2008, frustrating customers who were affected by the resulting delays. We would urge anyone with any information to contact Crimestoppers.”

Statistics

2008/09 April - end Dec

South Yorkshire
Incidents 149
Delay Mins (1) 74,994
Compensation costs* 1,894,740.67

North and West Yorkshire
Incidents 149
Delay Mins (1) 50,545
Compensation costs* 864,361.52

North East
Incidents 132
Delay Mins (1) 30,300
Compensation cost* 605,321.76

Total
Incidents 430
Delay Mins (1) 155,839
Compensation cost* 3,364,423.95

2007/08

South Yorkshire
Incidents 87
Delay mins (1) 283,554
Compensation cost* 365,181.77

North and West Yorkshire
Incidents 165
Delay mins (1) 54,864
Compensation cost* 1,008,512.04

North East
Incidents 173
Delay mins (1) 268,110
Compensation cost* 436,903.76

Total
Incidents 425
Delay mins (1) 606,528
Compensation cost* 1,810,597.57

* Compensation costs are paid to train and freight operators for the disruption caused by the delay. 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 what type of services are affected.

1 Delay minutes show the inconvenience experienced by the passenger and vary with each incident. If the theft is on a busy mainline then they rack up much quicker than on quieter suburban lines. It is also true that this number is falling as Network Rail maintenance teams get more practised at fixing the problem and better equipped to do so.