CABLES AND CABLE ACCESSORIES
“The good news is that we have been able to resource and finance teams to do that on a full-time basis, meaning we have three full time teams working on the London North East route – every time we find a hotspot we simply deploy them to that area.”
Naturally thieves will adapt to whatever barriers are put in their way, so it is impor- tant for Network Rail to always stay one step ahead.
Lungmuss admitted: “These thieves can be very resourceful and will tend to pop up where we are not, so inevitably it is a con- stant battle. Luckily, so far in our area we have not had to deal with large organised gangs. It usually tends to be either pairs or small groups of people, trying it fund some sort of habit and therefore stealing relative- ly small amounts of cable.
“However, no matter how small these amounts are, they still have a very large ef- fect on the infrastructure – so even stealing a few metres of signalling cable can mean that the railway will be disrupted for many hours, because firstly we have to put the cable back in and then test it to ensure the railway is fit to run safely.
“An example of this was at Newark where we had many thousands of minutes in de- lays caused by a couple of thieves.”
But he said they were caught in the act thanks to searches by helicopters and dogs, and later charged with recklessly endan- gering life through criminal damage, rather than cable theft.
Outsmarting the thieves
SmartWater technology, which is being ap- plied across parts of the Network Rail es- tate to try to deal with the problem, works in two ways.
It marks both the cable or metal itself, to make it easily traceable, and is also used in ‘trap’ devices, spraying the thieves with forensic material which is visible under a UV light and which is almost impossible to remove.
Chris Salisbury of NDC Consultants, which applies the SmartWater solution for Net- work Rail, said: “SmartWater forensic solu- tion is being applied to Network Rail’s In- frastructure to deter metal and cable theft that has cost Network Rail in the region of £35m in compensation and damage re- pairs since 2006.
“NDC engineers are applying the forensic solution on behalf of SmartWater Technol- ogy and erecting signage at various loca- tions to warn thieves that SmartWater is present.
“Assets along each 1km length of the rail- way are being marked with a unique code, which enables police to accurately con- nect recovered stolen materials to a spe- cific location. SmartWater trap devices are also in to target persistent offenders within hotspot areas. These devices spray would- be thieves with a uniquely coded solution that forensically links them to a specific crime scene.”
Above: Network Rail, British Transport
Police and NDC Consultants have been applying SmartWater technology across the rail estate to deter thieves.
Lungmuss said: “We are trying to get the judiciary to understand that not only are these thieves putting their own lives in danger, but also the lives of our mainte- nance crews, who have to go out and sort out the problems. They are going to have to go into a potentially very dangerous en- vironment.”
Network Rail has also undertaken a covert camera strategy, Lungmuss said.
“This has proved highly successful in the last year and a number of people have been caught on camera and subsequently been sentenced to some quite long jail terms.”
Unfortunately as soon as one thief is put away, another will take their place, Lungmuss hinted.
He said: “Whilst the price of copper con- tinues to rise and as the financial circum- stances the country is facing continue, this will continue to be a problem and this is something which is going to have to be ad- dressed. Network Rail is putting sufficient resources into tackling this crime because it is costing us, the travelling public and the train operators so much money.
“We are definitely going to stop it and if that means arresting more people, then so be it.”
Richard Lungmuss
FOR MORE INFORMATION W:
www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/4825.aspx
rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 11 | 75
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