Cable theft at Bolton 28 December 2024

[GraphitProjekt]

Why the fuss, no one is harmed, the metal is recycled which in itself provides employment, we accept theft from supermarkets as a norm and factor in the cost, surely the same should apply here. A friend who works for BT on cabling says that a day off with pay after a cable theft stops work is always welcome, although that will cease in March when he takes an incredibly generous package.

I'm surprised you went with "we accept theft from supermarkets as the norm" - considering the tone of this forum and the average taxpayer's alliance-esque vibe of the people that post in it. In effect I agree with you that low level day-to-day supermarket theft is as close to a non-crime as you can get considering the rampent profiteering of supermarket industries.

But I'd say stealing railway infrastructure can disrupt potentially thousands of people in their day-to-day activities for basically no reason. Unlike the many people far below the breadline shoplifting essential items because the prices have ballooned rediculously, no one really needs a load of NwR signalling cable bad enough that it warrants thousands of people unable to get where they are going. That's the point for me: metal thievers do not justifiable need copper bad enough compared to the negative social consequence they are causing.

And by the way, that's why broken public transport is a problem - it stops people being able to fulfill their lives as easily and that's what is important - the fact it changes numbers for nameless gigantic organisations is not that relevant in the grand scheme of things. Money is not a resource, time and labour are

 

[Annetts key]

I must admit I am suprised that copper cables are still in use on the railway, given the endless thefts

Because copper is the best metal for the applications that the cable is being used for. You can't use fibre optic for power or for certain applications. Fibre optic also can't be used to replace copper in existing systems without the expense of redesigning said systems. And aluminium cables need special terminations, they can't be used with terminals or equipment designed for copper cables. Plus aluminium has more resistance per metre compared to the same diameter copper cable. Greater resistance means greater voltage loss and greater power loss.

Hence copper cables are still used because they are the best solution for that application.systems

 

[HSTEd]

Because copper is the best metal for the applications that the cable is being used for. You can't use fibre optic for power or for certain applications. Fibre optic also can't be used to replace copper in existing systems without the expense of redesigning said systems. And aluminium cables need special terminations, they can't be used with terminals or equipment designed for copper cables. Plus aluminium has more resistance per metre compared to the same diameter copper cable. Greater resistance means greater voltage loss and greater power loss.

Hence copper cables are still used because they are the best solution for that application.systems

I am aware of the downsides of aluminium in this role - however it has to be noted that the majority of power cables used in utility medium voltage systems are made of aluminium.

Copper cables are increasingly restricted to various hyper specialist marine HVDC applications and legacy equipment.

Are they still the best solution for this application when they are incredibly attractive to thieves to the point that they are repeatedly stolen?

 

[Blackpool boy]

Are they still the best solution for this application when they are incredibly attractive to thieves to the point that they are repeatedly stolen?

Im sure the engineers who are employed to know this stuff have already decided that nothing else will work as well as copper hence why they keep using it!

 

[RichardAsh1981]

Are they still the best solution for this application when they are incredibly attractive to thieves to the point that they are repeatedly stolen?

Would aluminium be substantially less of a target for theft? All metals are at high prices.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Would aluminium be substantially less of a target for theft? All metals are at high prices.

Scrap aluminium wire is about half the price of copper by weight and it's lighter for a given volume as well, of course.
Aluminium scrap prices were high until about 20-25 years ago when they fell noticeably, I think this reflects the efficiency of household recycling increasing the supply.