Media centre

Tuesday 10 May 2011

RAILWAY CABLE THEFT TRIPLED IN SOUTH WALES

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

Network Rail and the police are closing in on cable thieves in south Wales, where metal theft has cost the railway nearly £3m over the last three years. Extra surveillance and covert actions, including the use of new technology, have helped make 900 arrests across the country last year.

Latest figures by Network Rail today reveal that there were a total of 84 cable thefts last year alone on the railway in south Wales. These attacks are disrupting the journeys of thousands of passengers as they target the railway for metal to sell as scrap.

Criminals are targeting the cables, which control vital rail infrastructure such as signals and points, and their acts have resulted in almost 600 hours of delays to trains in south Wales during the period of April 2010 to April 2011.

Mark Langman, route director for Network Rail, said: “These are serious criminal acts and they have to stop. Every day passengers and essential freight deliveries upon which our economy relies on are being delayed by thieves looking to make a quick buck at our expense.

“Cable thieves have also denied passengers the service they rightly expect and, through the massive cost to the industry, deny everyone improvements to rail services.

“We are doing everything we can to protect the railway and will continue to work closely with British Transport Police and other rail partners to do everything in our power to deter thieves and bring those who attack our network to justice.”

Alan Pacey, Assistant Chief Constable of British Transport Police, said: "The railways have seen significant delays and cancellations as a result of thieves cutting and stealing signalling and power cables from the side of the track.

“But we are working to tackle the issue and in the past few months have seen significant jail sentences handed down to cable thieves put before the courts.

“We are determined to send a clear message that such attacks on our critical infrastructure are unacceptable and the police and rail industry are working together to tackle the problem."

Methods used to deter and catch the thieves include:

• Dedicated BTP task force, increased patrols, intelligence led policing. Priority second only to terrorism.
• Network Rail has recently funded extra, dedicated officers
• Partnership working with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
• National intelligence cell with members from BTP, Network Rail and soon external non-rail partners.
• Use of the Network Rail helicopter, CCTV, forensic marking, trembler alarms and other devices to protect the cable.
• Fast response teams to get trains on the move as quickly as possible.
• Introduction of new type of cable that is easier to identify and harder to steal.
• Use of approved scrap yards for disposals of used materials.

Gary Cooper, head of operations at the Association of Train Operating Companies, added: “Train companies want to do all they possibly can to reduce the number of cancellations and delays caused by cable theft, which regularly leads to considerable disruption for many of their passengers.

“Operators and the industry as a whole are determined to crack down on the thieves, whose actions lead to extra work for staff and cost of millions of pounds, money which could otherwise be invested in improving services for passengers. The thieves are also putting themselves at risk of serious injury.

"Train companies are working closely with Network Rail and BTP to reduce and eventually eliminate this dangerous and disruptive crime, but tougher measures are needed to help tackle it."

Anyone with any information about cable theft should contact British Transport Police or Crimestoppers where they can report the crime anonymously and could receive up to £1,000 reward if their information leads to a conviction.

BTP can be contacted on 0800 40 50 40 and Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.