Cable Theft

[valenta]

Well, I felt another rant coming on and here it is.
I have been disrupted numerous times in the past few months by cable theft on the railways. It is undoubtably a disgraceful act, which, in my opinion, is becoming all too common on railways today, in fact the Tyne and Wear Metro has been disrupted today because of this very problem.
Is it me, or are incidents of cable thefts becoming more and more common?
And, should we have stricter rules and harsher penalties for people who carry out these acts?

 

[Ferret]

Well, I felt another rant coming on and here it is.
I have been disrupted numerous times in the past few months by cable theft on the railways. It is undoubtably a disgraceful act, which, in my opinion, is becoming all too common on railways today, in fact the Tyne and Wear Metro has been disrupted today because of this very problem.
Is it me, or are incidents of cable thefts becoming more and more common?
And, should we have stricter rules and harsher penalties for people who carry out these acts?

Yes they are becoming more common and yes, something should be done about it. But alas our criminal justice system has become a national embarassment, where the notion that somebody should be adequately punished for doing wrong has long gone out of the window.

 

[valenta]

Yes they are becoming more common and yes, something should be done about it. But alas our criminal justice system has become a national embarassment, where the notion that somebody should be adequately punished for doing wrong has long gone out of the window.

Totally agree.

 

[HugePilchard]

I don't think the problem is that the offenders aren't punished per se, it's more that they're not caught in the first place. Nicking cable from an isolated bit of line at 3am just isn't the same as walking into Comet in the middle of the afternoon and waltzing out with a DVD player under your arm.

Without intelligence about planned cable thefts, the only way that more people are going to be caught is to have the police sitting every few hundred yards along the side of the tracks!

 

[ajb]

I don't think the problem is that the offenders aren't punished per se, it's more that they're not caught in the first place. Nicking cable from an isolated bit of line at 3am just isn't the same as walking into Comet in the middle of the afternoon and waltzing out with a DVD player under your arm.

Without intelligence about planned cable thefts, the only way that more people are going to be caught is to have the police sitting every few hundred yards along the side of the tracks!

Hugh is right, the only way to combat this at site is to have the BTP sat every 200 yards 24/7 on EVERY section of track in the country so as not to transfer the problem elsewhere!! (As if!!)

However, there are other options, the police need to get the scrap dealers on side and come down tougher on the dealers found to be dealing in stolen cable (whether railways, Metrolinks or highway agency), then yes the justice system needs to be more severe in conficting people brought to court.

The railways are trying to combat this also, they have started burying cables in high risk areas, signs are popping up around the railway about smart water (if you get covered with this police have a device to see whether you have been sprayed with it and you look like you have been to one of these all night raves and are covered in dayglo paint... but this dayglo paint will not wash off!!!!.......feel sorry for the railway worker who is working with it )
Network Rail are also using cabling that is colour coded, which can't be burnt off and which is only used by NR so scrap merchants can't use the excuse of they did not know where it came from.

 

[jon0844]

If BTP was to sit every 200 yards, 24/7, on every section of track they'd have no time to go after people taking photos of trains!

 

[GoByThameslink]

Per FCC at their recent Stakeholder event, reducing cable theft is the number 2 priority for BTP (after terrorism)

 

[jon0844]

What is more common?! It would of course be a brave MD to swap them around though!!

Sent from my LT15i using Tapatalk

 

[cdonnigan]

seams to be happening a lot on the T+W metro lately notice between pelaw and S Shields they are re cabling that section but using plastic boxes to house the cables instead of the regualr concrete ones

 

[blue sabre]

seams to be happening a lot on the T+W metro lately notice between pelaw and S Shields they are re cabling that section but using plastic boxes to house the cables instead of the regualr concrete ones

One day last week they had to suspend service between Stadium of Light and South Hylton because of it.

I work in the mobile phone industry, it's becoming a lot more common that people are raiding our cell sites for cables. It's an utter nightmare as it can lead to an entire town having no mobile signal whilst we negotiate access with the landowner then get any specialist parts damaged in the process shipped in from Ericcson in Finland.
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seams to be happening a lot on the T+W metro lately notice between pelaw and S Shields they are re cabling that section but using plastic boxes to house the cables instead of the regualr concrete ones

Same section hit again this morning. One train each way every 30 mins. Everything else behind backing up as there isn't enough space at Pelaw to stable all the oned they are stopping short.

 

[valenta]

More disruption because of "suspected cable theft" on the T+W metro today.

 

[TRN481V]

No trains this morning between Southport and Wigan due to a cable theft.

 

[bus man]

In the south yorks area - where there is a serious problem - joint BTP /SYP operations have taken place BTP have visited scrap yards to look to see if they can find railway stuff.

Meanwhile SYP and VOSA have set up joint stops of any vehicle that is carry scrap , the police check for stolen goods and VOSA check the vehicle. British Telecom are also having problems with cable thread and councils are having problems with the theft of metal : road signs plus grate covers.

 

[WatcherZero]

Was reading of the Durham signalling renewal works and the lengths theyve taken to avoid theft there.

Armoured cables... in concrete ducts... 1 metre below ground... with even the inspection pits covers hidden under 200mm of ballast!

 

[142094]

Some kid died yesterday or the day before trying to knick cables from an old power station in Leeds. No sympathy from me.

I've been having a look at some of the new cables that are on the market, some have some decent protection with thick steel cables wrapped around them. However, if there is a will there is a way.

One thing I have noticed whilst travelling around recently is that in some areas where the concrete ducting is still around, Network Rail have been filling them in with some horrible orange expanding foam. Doesn't look particularly attractive and probably doesn't do much to protect the cables. Just makes a big mess.

EDIT: This is an interesting powerpoint from Network Rail for the LNE area (here). Would be interesting to find out the differences in cost between the various methods.

 

[Wolf_359]

The branch line between Coventry & Nuneaton is a regular target for cable theft.

The south end of the WCML has had cable thefts as well.

It's annoying that if they get caught they get a slap on the wrist & told not to do it again.

The same people who steal the cable are also the ones who then sue NR for compo when they are seriously injured committing their crime or the family sues if the culprit is killed.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

There is another thread on this forum (Manchester Metrolink South Manchester) where after certain delays, it was finally opened this week on the first section to Chorlton. The following day....services were stopped from 0740 to 1100.....and guess what was the cause.

ATTEMPTED CABLE THEFT

 

[strange6]

There is another thread on this forum (Manchester Metrolink South Manchester) where after certain delays, it was finally opened this week on the first section to Chorlton. The following day....services were stopped from 0740 to 1100.....and guess what was the cause.

ATTEMPTED CABLE THEFT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14078000

What a society we live in these days.

 

[northernrail]

All the people at my tramway including myself are getting increasingly worried about this, now that Black Country Museum, Metrolink and Manx electric Tramway have had attempted cable theft, its a big problem that really needs sorting

 

[WatcherZero]

Retarded thieves started a fire and knocked out power to several dozen houses in Wigan on Tuesday as they attempted to cut through the steel armour to get at the wires inside.

Got a nasty shock when they discovered the aluminium cables were carrying 66,000 volts!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Retarded thieves started a fire and knocked out power to several dozen houses in Wigan on Tuesday as they attempted to cut through the steel armour to get at the wires inside.

Got a nasty shock when they discovered the aluminium cables were carrying 66,000 volts!

On the picture in the link, there sems to be protective fencing at both ground level and to the approaches to the cable area itself, but the picture also shows what looks like a footpath running alongside a canal, with a brick wall nearby, so that seems access was made from the canal pathway.

 

[ChrisM66]

Anyone thinking of robbing cable should take a look at this,it was posted on my electricians forum and be warned Not for the squemish Happened in the USA.





On second thoughts wont put on an open forum without permission,will send via pm if anybody wants to see it.