Signalling problem between Plymouth-Truro

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

From FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website:

Due to signalling problems in the Keyham area between Plymouth and Truro, train services between London Paddington and Truro will start and terminate at Plymouth. Replacement road transport is being sourced to operate between Plymouth and Truro.
Between First Great Western and Arriva Cross Country, only one train per hour will operate between Plymouth and Truro.

Train services between Plymouth and Gunnislake have been suspended. Limited replacement road transport is operating between Plymouth and Gunnislake.

There is also engineering work taking place this weekend between Truro and Penzance so travelling in Cornwall today is very much likely to be on a bus until the signalling problems are fixed.

Revised timetable for work between Truro and Penzance can be found here:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=2849

[devon_metro]

Cable theft

[Timmer]

Cable theft

I was hoping you would come up with an answer for this mornings problems Liam but also knew that was the answer that you would give!

Very annoying when this happens as there is very little Network Rail can do to stop it happening. Anyone got any suggestions?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Well, smokey has made some very useful suggestions elsewhere:

Cable theft is getting to be a big problem for Network Rail, the value of Scrap is the problem, however three things Network Rail could do,

1 On signal cable use "TINNED" (electro-plated) copper cores, drives down the scrap value no end.

2 Have Property of Network Rail Printed on Outside and Inner cores of cable, most scrapmen won't touch such cable without the correct paperwork.

3 On Power Cables (16mm core and above) use Aluminium cable instead of copper.

And, to be fair, theft of copper is not just a problem on the railways:

"A man was killed trying to steal copper cable which was carrying 11,000 volts, an inquest has been told.  Kirk Thompson, 43, from Bettws, Newport, was electrocuted in April at the derelict Panteg steelworks, in Pontypool, Torfaen.  The former heroin addict's bolt croppers pierced the plastic coating of a cable connected to the National Grid.

Recording an accidental death verdict at Newport, deputy Gwent coroner Wendy James said his "luck ran out".  The deputy coroner added: "Never has the old saying 'crime never pays' been so graphically illustrated as in this case.  These type of thefts are on the increase and people should heed the warnings of the dangers of electricity.  If they choose to ignore the warnings they will pay the highest price possible."

For full details, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7623021.stm

[John R]

Cable theft

I was hoping you would come up with an answer for this mornings problems Liam but also knew that was the answer that you would give!

Very annoying when this happens as there is very little Network Rail can do to stop it happening. Anyone got any suggestions?

I agree that it's not NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s fault, but I do wonder whether having great lumps of metal cable isn't a bit of an anachronism in this day and age.

[Electric train]

Cable theft

I was hoping you would come up with an answer for this mornings problems Liam but also knew that was the answer that you would give!

Very annoying when this happens as there is very little Network Rail can do to stop it happening. Anyone got any suggestions?

I agree that it's not NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s fault, but I do wonder whether having great lumps of metal cable isn't a bit of an anachronism in this day and age.

With tens of thousands of route miles of infrastructure with what must be millions of miles of cabling that has been installed over the last 50+ years replacing it with something that is as cheap and compatible is a nightmare.  On the project I deal with we are even having cables that are charged a 33,000 volts cut into, cable thefts are a major concern to NR and where possible we are replacing them with an alternative or placing them in a hardened environment but even this is not enough in the many of hundreds if not thousands of remote locations NR have. 

BT Police are in fact the top performing Constabulary in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) on the investigations, arrests and charges on metal thefts in the UK they see metal thefts as their second highest priority terrorism being the first

[signalandtelegraph]

Cable theft

Power cable failure, not theft.