Trains halted after cable theft (BBC News)
 

Commuter and freight services are suspended in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk after 300 metres of cable is stolen.

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How the hell do you steal 300 meteres of cable? The weight must be incredible to start with. The mind boggles.
Paul.

Yeah, sounds weird, but it happened a few times on Manchester's Metrolink. They're professional criminals who can move in at night quickly, steal the cable quickly and move out.

On Metrolink they first find out about the theft when the first tram of the morning stops over the section of track that's been tampered with. :D

They seem to be very well organised criminals, possibly using a van which looks like a network rail one, and equipped with all the tools necessary, plus the obligatory hi-vis jackets (which is rather ironic for thieves).

With the price of copper soaring to all time highs, railway cables are too tempting these days.

How would you know a group of men 'working' lineside were not genuine?

i cant hlep but think that most of these cable thefts are inside jobs.

What makes you say that?

A good question. It's become such a problem now that Traincrew are encouraged to call the signaller if they are at all suspicious of any staff they see out on the track. It actually made it into the Weekly Operating notices (WONs). The Signallers have a hotline to Nitwit Rail Operations HQ, and it can be checked out quickly.

What's suspicious you may ask - well three blokes with angle grinders is !!

If they're stood next to a load of old scrap rail then it's feasible, but if they're out in the middle of nowhere, you'd be inclined to wonder just what it was they were going to cut up.

Sorry to ask a dim question, but what voltage goes through these cables.
You would hope it was about 4 million and then the problem would be solved in a flash. (No pun intended).
Paul.

It's a fair question. Given that they want to get the copper, the thickest cables will be the ones carrying traction current. If they were to cut though the 3rd rail supply cables they'd be looking at a nominal 750 volts DC. If they went for the OHLE cables or Substation Feeders they could be looking at 25 kV or more. The fact that these people aren't being fried means that either they know what they're doing (and I'm NOT going to post on here how it's done), or they're going after the lower voltage cables such as Signals & Telecoms - though these can still bite !

It's interesting that John_142 made a comment about inside jobs. You must remember that NR has sub-contracted work, and these sub-contractors sometimes sub-contract further. I doubt seriously that any permanent NR staff would be involved, but alot of people now work on the Railway on an almost casual basis for a pittance, so it's not beyoynd the realm of possibilty that some occasional worker who possesses a Hi-Vi, hat, & most importantly a bit of knowledge has 'cased the joint' and fancies a bit of extra-curricular income. Just a thought.

Foggy

Thats what i was thinking !