Posted 18th April 2011 | 6 Comments
Cable theft now major issue, warns route director
A NETWORK RAIL route director has warned that cable theft is now posing a major threat to railway performance, after the company came under fire from East Coast following serious and prolonged delays on Friday.
Trains were held up after a fatality at Biggleswade was followed by a signal failure at Retford, and East Coast has said Network Rail's performance must improve.
It's now known that a medium-voltage cable had been damaged by a hacksaw blade – the second such incident in the area in less than a week.
The cable concerned forms part of a circuit spur feeding a freight line which crosses the East Coast route at Tuxford, near Retford. Although the freight line itself is out of use, damage to the still-live cable triggered a short circuit and a major failure in the area.
The incident caused fresh delays to trains which had already been held up by the Biggleswade incident. One victim was BBC Radio Four's Any Questions programme, which had been due to be broadcast on Friday evening from the National Railway Museum at Shildon but had to be cancelled because three of the four panelists were left stranded on trains en route.
LNE route director Richard Lungmuss revealed in an internal message, seen by Railnews, that more than 17,000 minutes had been lost in just 17 days because of cable theft and vandalism in his area.
He went on to comment that with cable damage at such a level, the company would be 'very pushed to deliver any sort of railway', despite infrastructure improvements.
Network Rail has yet to respond specifically to East Coast's criticisms.
However, a spokeswoman said that the cable damage had led to a signalling blackout over 14 sections. She added: "We will continue to work with East Coast and the other operators along the route to improve on performance. We already have a campaign to tackle the big problems of cable theft and are determined to stop these thieves who can cause great disruption even if they are unsuccessful. We would urge anyone with information on these crimes to report them to the British Transport Police or Crimestoppers.
"Network Rail, in partnership with Crimestoppers, is offering a reward of up to £1,000 for information which leads to the conviction of railway cable thieves and vandals. Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111."
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
A. Non, Derbyshire
The cable damage WAS caused by vandalism. The line in question still is OOU at the affected area and the section that is open is not a NR Test Track as such.
There is no link to cable thefts due to the increased use of axle counters. It is simply the price of metal.
STEWART PRENTICE, Bellshill, North Lanarkshire
Yes axle counters and track circuits both require cable, however when observed from the track, the introduction of axle counters and the miles of additional, often exposed heavy duty cable, is a visual cue of an opportunity for the thief. The point is, the thief finds this as an opportunity.
The immediate question I have is - has the BTP categorised the purpose of the cable being stolen? I would guess, having driven over some of the locations which have been blighted by these acts, is that most of the cable being stolen is from the recently introduced axle counters.
Mike Christelow, Crewe, Cheshire
Axle Counters vs Track Circuits makes no odds - both forms of train detection need cabling to connect back to the signalling system in use.
Despite the perception that some in the industry are not doing enough to combat this, the reality is that the market value of copper currently makes cable theft a highly lucrative occupation, where the rewards are seen to outweigh the risks for those involved.
Cable theft is an antisocial crime. Prevention might seem simple and in some cases simple measures are enough, but eliminating the attraction created by a price of $9000/tonne is a complex task requiring legislation, judicial support, manpower, technology, social and societal measures and so on.
Paul Hepworth, York, UK
When employed as a Signalling designer, I became aware of miniature circuit breaker units which fitted into the solid link holders of 650v spur units.
When strategically installed eg at spur points in the 650 v supply, these can minimise the extent of disruption caused by a short to the supply during eg cable theft.
I recall that at the time, this equipment was still awaiting formal product acceptance by Railtrack (as it then was).
A. Non, Lincolnshire
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the damaged cable at Tuxford was not caused by theft/attempted theft, but by contractors upgrading/modifying the said "freight" line, (which is now used as a test track by network rail) who thought the cable was redundant (allegedly), And the earlier cable problem, again, nothing to do with any theft at all, but a failing joint, which has been due for replacement for over three years.
That said cable theft is a network-wide issue, mainly due to poor security and lack of simple common sense on the side of Network Rail, for example a specific 'hot' location was identified as in need of fencing, as local youths had easy access to the track, yet this was 'not a priority'. This decision directly led to over 6 major cable thefts in the area in a 2 year period, costing well over £0.5million in delay alone, before some-one thought it might be an idea to put up a fence.... utter stupidity and lack of fore-sight...
STEWART PRENTICE, Bellshill, North Lanarkshire
Is the increasing frequency of cable theft linked to the introduction of axle counters to replace track circuits? I believe it is so and would be interested to see if the roll out of this form of train detection has had a rigorous business risk assessment conducted.