Metal thieves blamed for rail disruption (From Thurrock Gazette)

Metal thieves blamed for rail disruption

2:53pm Thursday 17th January 2008

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METAL thieves appear to be the cause for the latest disruption on the c2c line from Shoebury to London Fenchurch Street.

Copper cables running along the tracks were stolen, which affected the overhead power supply to the trains.

Thefts of metal are soaring across the county, as its high price makes scrap valuable.

Rush-hour services were severely delayed on Tuesday evening as a result of the thefts, which affected trains through to yesterday afternoon, as Network Rail worked to repair the cables in the Pitsea area.

Rebecca Richardson, spokeswoman for c2c, said: "The problem occurred between Pitsea and Benfleet, as a result of copper cable theft, and this resulted in the loss of power.

"Network Rail investigated it and worked through the night to fix it. The line was fully up and running again by 10.30am on Wednesday morning.

"We were running a limited service until then and had only one line in operation.

"This is a problem for rail companies countrywide and c2c has suffered from it in the past."

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