Rail delays halved as campaign to curb metal thieves pays off

A CLAMPDOWN on metal and cable theft on the railways has drastically slashed delays to passenger and freight services, new figures show.

Delays caused by the crime halved in 2012/13 compared with 2011/12, and in parts of Yorkshire the number fell by as much as 93 per cent.

And the total cost of such offences across the country, including compensation, fell from £18.3m to £12.8m, Network Rail announced.

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The thefts caused delays of more than 6,000 hours in 2010/11, when there were almost 1,000 incidents of this kind, and there were a
further 5,740 hours of delays caused by 845 thefts the following year.

But by last year the number of incidents had fallen to 285 and delays were down to 2,700 hours.

In West and North Yorkshire, the number of incidents dropped to 18 in 2012/13 from 143 the previous year, a 93 per cent reduction.

Delays resulting from them fell from 951 hours to 70 hours, and compensation costs were reduced from £1.6m to just under £95,500.

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In South Yorkshire the number of incidents fell from 160 to 28 while delays caused by them were down to 268 hours compared with 823 hours the previous year. Compensation costs fell from £1.8m to just under £900,000.

Neil Henry, head of operations and performance at Network Rail, said: “These figures show the true success of partnership working and are great news for passengers and our freight customers.

“The improvements we have seen are down to a number of factors, including British Transport Police, targeting thieves and the scrap dealers buying stolen metal.

“Our engineers are working with suppliers and other industries to make metal - particularly our cables - harder to steal and easier to identify and our teams around the network are introducing new ways of working to reduce delay and fix thefts more quickly.”

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Rail operator East Coast, which runs services connecting Yorkshire with London and Scotland and posted poorer punctuality figures than any of its rivals last month, welcomed the progress that has been made.

Operations director Danny Williams said: “Cable thefts have been one of the leading causes of significant disruption to our services in the past. The railway has worked together to achieve this reduction in delays, though there is still more to do.

“We will continue to co-operate fully with Network Rail, other train operators and the British Transport Police to drive down cable theft further, with support from the communities we serve.”

Cash payments for scrap metal were outlawed in December last year and it is hoped tougher regulation of dealers when new legislation comes into force this year will further aid the rail industry in its fight against metal and cable theft.

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From autumn, dealers must be licensed and local authorities will have the power to reject unsuitable applicants and revoke licences.

Sellers must show verifiable ID, which dealers must record and retain details of or face hefty fines.

Police will also be able to obtain court orders allowing them to shut down unlicensed scrap yards.

Rail Minister Norman Baker said: “The Government is strongly committed to tackling metal theft and it is heartening to see that the decisive action that has been taken is now paying off with major reductions in this kind of crime.

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“Government intervention in this area has included £5m of funding for a task force to crack down on metal and cable thieves, along with the introduction of a ban on cash payments by scrap metal dealers, significantly increasing the fines for all offences under the existing Scrap Metal Dealers Act and providing police officers with sufficient powers of entry to tackle illegal trading in metal yards.”

British Transport Police said the reduction in incidents and delays was encouraging.

Detective Chief Inspector Gill Murray said: “They are testament to the work done by police and partner agencies to increase the risk of detection and prosecution to offenders, while also reducing the potential rewards for their criminal behaviour.”