Railways hit by £1.5m theft bill
Metal thieves are targeting West Midland railways almost every day – causing hundreds of services to be cancelled and costing the industry £1.5 million a year.
Metal thieves are targeting West Midland railways almost every day – causing hundreds of services to be cancelled and costing the industry £1.5 million a year.
Bosses revealed today attacks on the train lines are getting worse, with 229 so far this year compared with 239 for the whole of 2010.
They called for courts to hand down more tough sentences as a deterrant – and said they should reflect the misery caused to thousands of passengers.
Thieves steal metal from cables either by pulling it up and dragging it on a vehicle, or in some cases by laying the signalling cable on the track and making the trains slice through it. The damage forces train lines to be shut down for repairs.
Network Rail revealed 167 trains were cancelled in 2010/11 while a further 214 were part cancelled.
London Midland services suffered 11,055 minutes delay, 107 full and 217 part cancellations, affecting 1,424 trains in total due to cable theft.
