I Wouldn’t Like To Be These Thieves If the Commuters Get Them!
Thieves have stolen 90 metres of signalling cable from outside Paddington according to the BBC. It is causing major problems.
But at least the systems appear fail-safe and no-one has been hurt. It would be different of course, if the commuters got their hands on the thieves.
Years ago, I did some analysis for Railtrack and to stop signal cable thefts, they were replacing copper cable with fibre optic. The latter was cheaper and of coursehad no value if stolen, as who wants lots of glass thread? So the thieves just turned up with cutters and destroyed the fibre optic cables, in the vain hope that Railtrack would replace it with copper. They didn’t of course.
Perhaps though, those that get caught stealing cables, which control life-saving systems like signals or motorway signs, should be charged with something more serious like attempted manslaughter.
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