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   Copper thefts putting rail at risk
by Mark Bright
Rail Police today warned that the network was under strain from people stealing cabling and raw materials. The rising price of copper has lead to a recent spate of thefts in the North West. In the past year the wholesale price of the metal has tripled, leaving rail cabling an easy target. Trackside cables have a copper core, and are relatively easy to reach, so theives are stealing the cables to get to the metal, and selling on to scrap merchants. The British Transport Police will today begin a national day of action in Manchester aimed at tackling the growing problem. Detective Inspector Andrea Rainey of the The British Transport Police, who is heading the operation in the North West, made a statement to the press today explaining the dangers of cable theft: "Many of our offenders don't know the role and importance of copper in the cabling and don't understand that there can be thousands of volts passed through them. "We would warn any offender away from the train tracks or risk serious injury." Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
