Copper theft disruptions

There were major disruptions during yesterday and today's morning peaks on the Craigieburn, Upfield and Sunbury lines as a result of copper theft.

Some of these disruptions added an extra 90 minutes to journeys in some cases, making for a very frustrating and uncomfortable commute.

Stealing live cables can be fatal. Our signal cables carry huge amounts of volts at any given time and we are surprised that no-one has been electrocuted yet. As well as the risk of dying, touching wires like these at the wrong time can cause horrific burns and loss of limbs.

Because of this, we believe this is the job of a professional team and not a casual thief. It’s also not a one-man job and we believe there are only a small number of different groups involved.

There were 41 incidents of copper wire theft in 2012. The two incidents this morning on the Upfield and Sunbury lines brings the total number of incidents so far this year to 19.

It’s been challenging to catch these thieves and we are constantly investigating new ways of doing so. It’s impossible to have surveillance over the whole network at any one time as it spans 830kms of track; the majority of it above ground and easily accessible to the public.

In January this year, we began using a highly technological, infrared helicopter to surveil (sic) the network overnight. The low-noise helicopter is equipped with a heat sensitive and low light camera and has the ability to capture in excess of 12km of the network at any one time.

We are planning to increase our use of the helicopter again and our Asset Protection Unit is on high guard with more patrols in the regularly hit areas of the network. We’re also replacing every stolen signal cable with aluminium which does the same job but is bigger in diameter and less valuable.

If any of our customers notice any suspicious activity or behaviour around the railway, particularly late at night, we urge them to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 and assist us in apprehending these criminals.

Maybe "copper theft" could be added to the list of delays (wrong food trolley, etc.)

Victoria Police are amazed no-one was killed when copper cabling was stolen from the Metro train network overnight.

Thieves cut through live overhead cables near Noble Park station around 2:30am and stole 90 metres of cable worth about $700. The theft caused major disruptions to train services. Twenty trains on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines had to be cancelled, and the V/line Gippsland service was also affected.

Senior Sergeant David Cochrane says the culprits were foolish. "Frankly I don't know why we aren't also investigating a death today because it was highly dangerous," he said. "The cables arced onto the ground and were left hanging loose which caused a safety risk not only to passengers, but also to workers repairing it."

...

(Metro) is also bringing back helicopter surveillance.

"In January and February we sent them up about five times and it cost about $20,000 a night to do it," Mr Lezala said. "But this is costing such a lot of money to the network and such a lot of disruption to our customers that it's worth spending the money."