Signalling(?) cable theft (again) between Grantham and Newark Northgate

[HC1998]

LNER reporting more cable thefts overnight. Really disgusting behaviour, hope those responsible are caught

London North Eastern Railway (@LNER) on X

⚠️#LNERUpdate Network Rail have been working hard to restore normal working between #Grantham & #NewarkNorthgate. Over 100m of cable has been stolen (photo from site) resulting in the major disruption to our services. Check your journey before you travel: https://t.co/o0hAZZ3XYh

x.com

 

[Meole]

LNER reporting more cable thefts overnight. Really disgusting behaviour, hope those responsible are caught

London North Eastern Railway (@LNER) on X

⚠️#LNERUpdate Network Rail have been working hard to restore normal working between #Grantham & #NewarkNorthgate. Over 100m of cable has been stolen (photo from site) resulting in the major disruption to our services. Check your journey before you travel: https://t.co/o0hAZZ3XYh

x.com

This will increase as there are lots of cable theft opportunities at EV charging sites as well, impossible to stop as the scrap industry will always pay.

 

[Narrowgauge725]

About time the outer sheaf had 25kv to fry the person who cuts it!

 

[Trainman40083]

I would not have said that there was much copper content in signalling cable. Most of it was like rubber to stop rats having it for breakfast. .

 

[riceuten]

The issue here - like with all stolen goods - is that, if there is a market for it, then people will steal. So the best solution would best seem to be to go after the receivers of stolen goods. People won't steal when there's nowhere to sell it.

 

[harz99]

I was booked on the 0815 from Doncaster to Kings Cross this morning, as a result of the cable theft the previous 2 services had been cancelled and the 0815 was announced as full and standing, not being willing to stand all the way I aborted the journey, good thing I did as the 225 set also had an issue at Newark and finally reached London a whisker short of 75 minutes late, which in turn would've screwed my later plans.

 

[AndrewE]

The issue here - like with all stolen goods - is that, if there is a market for it, then people will steal. So the best solution would best seem to be to go after the receivers of stolen goods. People won't steal when there's nowhere to sell it.

It was reported that a lot of stolen stuff isn't sold in the UK, not even to scrappies, it's packed straight into containers and exported to the other side of the world (or Africa or Eastern Europe) within a day or two. Also applies to bikes, farm machinery and expensive cars too apparently, organised crime being involved...

 

[Meole]

No checks on exports.

 

[riceuten]

It was reported that a lot of stolen stuff isn't sold in the UK, not even to scrappies, it's packed straight into containers and exported to the other side of the world (or Africa or Eastern Europe) within a day or two. Also applies to bikes, farm machinery and expensive cars too apparently, organised crime being involved...

I knew about cars and bikes, but cabling ? Transport costs must be considerable. I assume someone somewhere is being paid to look the other way

 

[plunet]

I knew about cars and bikes, but cabling ? Transport costs must be considerable. I assume someone somewhere is being paid to look the other way

Have a look at the price of copper. It's not as high it was a few months ago when many metal commodities were peaking in price, but there's still decent money for copper because of industry demand as more energy solutions pivot to electricity.

 

[Hellzapoppin]

Looking at the picture the cable on the left is an old telecom type cable which contains a bit more metal than just copper.

 

[Trainman40083]

Looking at the picture the cable on the left is an old telecom type cable which contains a bit more metal than just copper.

Hey they nicked fibre optic cable too. In the supply chain, the challenge was all about making sure stock of cable was available to cover for unexpected thefts, without letting existing customers down. That could be a challenge when it was track feeder cable, both copper and aluminium.

 

[81A]

Does fibre optic have resale value as well? Or is it only the copper? If the fibre optic doesn’t have scrap value, I would imagine making as much cable as possible fibre would eventually stop the thefts (though it may take the thieves a while to realise)…

 

[Trainman40083]

Does fibre optic have resale value as well? Or is it only the copper? If the fibre optic doesn’t have scrap value, I would imagine making as much cable as possible fibre would eventually stop the thefts (though it may take the thieves a while to realise)…

I doubt fibre optic has any resale value at all.. Just copper and aluminium.. Of course, aluminium would get used more when copper prices rose. Can you tell I managed cable contracts? You could have a drum of fibre and paint on the side in big letters FIBRE OPTIC. Didn't mean the thieves believed you. Sometimes they left the cable drum so it could be returned to the supplier for reuse.

 

[Haywain]

Really disgusting behaviour, hope those responsible are caught

Not directly related to the cases under discussion, but some do get caught, as this post on Facebook (quoted below) shows:

Prolific cable thief Iulian Iacob couldn’t resist temptation, now he’s paying the price.
Despite being caught and arrested twice before for the same offence, he boldly returned to the railway in Bedfordshire last July to steal more copper piping and cabling to sell on.
After being caught red-handed and covered in soot, he was left with no choice but to plead guilty to multiple offences following our investigation.
He’ll now spend the next two years in prison after being sentenced at Luton Crown Court on 17 June.
Investigating officer PC David Sheldrick said:
“Iacob has been a persistent nuisance to the railway. Despite already being caught in the act twice and arrested, this did little to deter him from re offending and stealing more copper and cable from the railway.
“Cable theft is a dangerous, costly and disruptive crime that simply will not be tolerated.”

 

[Bald Rick]

I knew about cars and bikes, but cabling ? Transport costs must be considerable. I assume someone somewhere is being paid to look the other way

Scrap copper is about £8k a tonne when sold legitimately. You don’t need to get anywhere near filling a box with scrap copper for it to ’weigh out’. The transport cost for sending a box back to China is roughly the same loaded or empty, so putting anything in it is (almost) free transport.

 

[leodis]

I was booked on the 0815 from Doncaster to Kings Cross this morning, as a result of the cable theft the previous 2 services had been cancelled and the 0815 was announced as full and standing, not being willing to stand all the way I aborted the journey, good thing I did as the 225 set also had an issue at Newark and finally reached London a whisker short of 75 minutes late, which in turn would've screwed my later plans.

I was booked on the 0810 from Leeds which was cancelled. I got the 0840 and at Newark we caught up with this 225 (0740 from Leeds). From what I overheard, it sounds like the 225 was held for a bit longer at Newark to depart behind us, presumably to keep us a bit more closer to time (and reduce DR payout, if this is a consideration?)

 

[Haywain]

presumably to keep us a bit more closer to time (and reduce DR payout, if this is a consideration?)

DR payout is not a consideration to those in Control as far as I know, it is more about having the trains and crew in place for their next workings so as to minimise overall disruption.

 

[GordonT]

I was booked on the 0810 from Leeds which was cancelled. I got the 0840 and at Newark we caught up with this 225 (0740 from Leeds). From what I overheard, it sounds like the 225 was held for a bit longer at Newark to depart behind us, presumably to keep us a bit more closer to time (and reduce DR payout, if this is a consideration?)

See Post #6 regarding an issue with the 225.

 

[trebor79]

When I worked at Newark sugar factory, it was quite common to go out into the labs between the A46 and Lincoln line to clean out river water intake and disturb subs gentlemen burning cable. It just so happens there is (was) a scrapyard at the far end of the footbridge over the river. Total coincidence.
Once had the earthing straps stolen from the 11kV distribution board in our boiler house. Whilst it was all running , one false move would have been a big bang and crispy miscreant!
It's always been a terrible area for metal theft.

 

[Trainman40083]

Many years ago, I was at work in Crewe. I was in the material supply chain.. It was British Transport Police in Sheffield. The Police had stopped a van carrying material that was carrying material they suspected was stolen from a railway site. But they had to prove it, by identifying where it was stolen from. I asked where the van was stopped, in which direction it was travelling. Got a map and drew lines ever widening to give a potential theft area..Then on the phone to depots "Have you had any cable stolen?". No. Most odd. Plan B. Police, can you send me a picture of the cable you suspect is stolen? Zoomed in. Oh look, a cable drum reference and other markings. Back on the phone to depot R. "The police have stopped a van carrying suspected stolen cable. Data suggests we supplied your depot with this cable". Oh surprise. They did have cable stolen after all. Traceability. Had that cable not been on the drum,it might have relied on cable batch numbers, but that would have been harder, as a batch could have been supplied to multiple sites.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Back on the phone to depot R. "The police have stopped a van carrying suspected stolen cable. Data suggests we supplied your depot with this cable". Oh surprise. They did have cable stolen after all.

That story sounds like an inside job to me. No, no, we've not had any cable stolen, and we've definitely not been given a sum of money to pretend we'd not noticed.

Not directly related to the cases under discussion, but some do get caught, as this post on Facebook (quoted below) shows:

Two years is just the cost of doing business, really. It's hardly a deterrent and it is barely even punitive.

 

[Trainman40083]

That story sounds like an inside job to me. No, no, we've not had any cable stolen, and we've definitely not been given a sum of money to pretend we'd not noticed.

Two years is just the cost of doing business, really. It's hardly a deterrent and it is barely even punitive.

I'm not sure it was. But the engineer certainly didn't want to admit to his boss that his site was not secure. He probably didn't think we could do batch traceability in the way we did. Not sure the Police did either. But we had a system where if a product was faulty, we knew exactly who had purchased it and when

 

[harz99]

I was booked on the 0810 from Leeds which was cancelled. I got the 0840 and at Newark we caught up with this 225 (0740 from Leeds). From what I overheard, it sounds like the 225 was held for a bit longer at Newark to depart behind us, presumably to keep us a bit more closer to time (and reduce DR payout, if this is a consideration?)

The same IC225 set failed today at Stevenage with brake issues, draw your own conclusions

 

[Rab Smith]

Cable theft has been happening since the day they started laying it. It's got a market, albeit a far more shady one nowadays. Most reputable Scrap companies now ask for contact details and bank account numbers to pay the cash into and don't tend to deal with walk ins off the street.
Thieves will generally chop a cable to see what it's cores are made from. If it's not worth their time, they will leave it but they also leave behind the chaos that it causes.
The fact it still happens in 2026 means the industry cannot tackle it fully.

 

[riceuten]

Many years ago, I was at work in Crewe. I was in the material supply chain.. It was British Transport Police in Sheffield. The Police had stopped a van carrying material that was carrying material they suspected was stolen from a railway site. But they had to prove it, by identifying where it was stolen from. I asked where the van was stopped, in which direction it was travelling. Got a map and drew lines ever widening to give a potential theft area..Then on the phone to depots "Have you had any cable stolen?". No. Most odd. Plan B. Police, can you send me a picture of the cable you suspect is stolen? Zoomed in. Oh look, a cable drum reference and other markings. Back on the phone to depot R. "The police have stopped a van carrying suspected stolen cable. Data suggests we supplied your depot with this cable". Oh surprise. They did have cable stolen after all. Traceability. Had that cable not been on the drum,it might have relied on cable batch numbers, but that would have been harder, as a batch could have been supplied to multiple sites.

You do wonder if someone had been paid to look the other way.

 

[Trainman40083]

You do wonder if someone had been paid to look the other way.

Had a case in our main warehouse. Some guys appeared. One asked to borrow the store man's forklift truck and had it away with some 1000sqmm track feeder cable. Shortly after , a more secure system was brought in for fork lift truck driving. If you were not authorised to drive them, you couldn't drive them.

 

[Bald Rick]

One of my collegaaues once got a call from the wife of one of our supervisors (also a rep), fairly uncryptically saying something like she was leaving him and we might want to look in their shed. Whereupon some very expensive cable.…

 

[Trainman40083]

One of my collegaaues once got a call from the wife of one of our supervisors (also a rep), fairly uncryptically saying something like she was leaving him and we might want to look in their shed. Whereupon some very expensive cable.…

Must have been some dis cord there. Sorry.

 

[Bald Rick]

Must have been some dis cord there. Sorry.

very good!