Rail theft is a big thing

R

rjhowie

Active member
Lately the media have been reporting in the papers and television of the widening of metal and cable theft taking in the railway system. Sometime passenger services have been badly effected by this. Some churches have had lead removed more than once and cannot get insurance now British Transport Police along with the routine force have to consider special teams to combat what is big money. Those criminals have of course no thought to anyone's life being in danger and ar the lowest of the low?
 
Recently I read that in Spain, someone stole the counterbalances for the overhead wires. A high speed train arrived to the affected section and the pantographs got tangled creating a nice horrible mess. The question is how do you prevent this from happening?
 
Wait until you see the carnage when they build the new "HSR" lines in the US, if ever. Poor folks without jobs dismantling the infrastructure to sell for recycling because the taxes are so high and the government regulations so constricting that they can't find a job...:eek:
 
You are so right there Red_Rattler and that is from someone who wore a black gown and sat on the bench......
 
Luckily some scrap yards will delay scrap metal transactions (and call police to the scene) when they see Stop Signs, Street Manhole Covers, railroad rail, and suspectable looking cable, being brought into scarp yards by vagrants.

Near Pittsburgh, a entire bridge was cut up and stolen. (it was on private property and was a very old, small access road bridge owned by a private company).
 
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cascaderailroad said:
Luckily some scrap yards will delay scrap metal transactions (and call police to the scene) when they see Stop Signs, Street Manhole Covers, railroad rail, and suspectable looking cable, being brought into scarp yards by vagrants.
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i thought they were already supposed to do this. stealing railroad parts and cable etc are no new thing. this was also something that happened a lot during the great depression in the US.
 
This actually happened to us at the Valley Railroad a few months back. We sent out a inspection crew to a currently unused portion of the line, but still maintained. The trip north was uneventful, but on the trip back south the guys on the track equipment heard the engine of a vehicle nearby.. As they were rounding a corner they saw tie plates leaning up against the outside rail which could have derailed the speeder since the rail was also bowing out a little bit as it was no longer attached to the ties for almost the entire length of the section of rail. So the small convoy stopped and dismounted and walked up the line to find a truck straddling the rails with 3 teenagers(youngest being 14, oldest being 18 or so) loading tie plates into the back of the truck..
The crew gave a very short chase but was obviously no match since they didn't have a vehicle but they got a partial plate and a detailed description of the kids. We immediately notified the police who contacted state authorities who have since launched a massive investigation with several state agencies. DEEP, state police etc...But now the parks department is also involved because they placed a walking trail directly on the ROW which is against regulations, so the walkway must be moved away from the ROW or run parallel right next to the ROW but, not directly on it.
 
i think that's what corporate raiders do when they buy a company and then shut it down and put people out of work, and sell everything to pay back the debt and give themselves a big helping hand of dollars for rationalizing the industry.



Euphod said:
Wait until you see the carnage when they build the new "HSR" lines in the US, if ever. Poor folks without jobs dismantling the infrastructure to sell for recycling because the taxes are so high and the government regulations so constricting that they can't find a job...:eek:
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I'm not sure I draw the same parallel as you, but at least "corporate raiders" as using their money, not mine...;)
 
This happens in my town Kazan too. A week ago when I war driving a local service with a DR9 suddenly we had to stop, because a whole track section was missing. Around 10 metres of track were gone in a rural area some 30 km from Kazan. And it's happening frequently. Luckily we were ony going at 10 km/h at this section so braking was not a problem.

Every train on the line was cancelled, and replaced by buses. This was a horrible cost for RZD. And I got part of the trouble for not following safety regulations while operating, so my workmates weren't happy.

The people that steals these track objects are the people not respecting the railway and setting other people in trouble, as well as harming the passengers safety. The transsiberian train passes here so imagine seeing on the news that a transsiberian train derailed and hundreds are dead?

The missing track section is repaired now by the way.
 
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This has happened where I live too. In Taunton a Geep ended up on the ground because the rails were missing! Thieves also stole some copper wire from the telegraph poles along the PAR/PAS mainline. They caught those guys and put them in jail.

John
 
Kankakee had a problem where thieves would steal manhole covers. Some lead about 20ft into the ground! You would take your whole front end off your car hitting that thing!

Ironically, the scrapers could get about $60 or so for each cover... though it costs the City of Kankakee $200 to buy more from Jordan Steel.

Probably the worst story about scrap metal theft was a couple of crooks stole all the copper wiring... out of a tornado siren. That night, just so happens, a super-cell thunderstorm came into town. A tornado touched down, and the whole subdivision was unaware. It was pure luck it missed them.

You do need consent from the railroad to get money for railroad scrap. Local scrapyards out here will hold you and the material until you get consent. If your caught without the right paperwork, they detain you and you answer to the police. I often pick tie plates and other things from railroads just for fun, nothing major if it's left over from the last time they laid track. I once got an air hose that way.

I did hear that a Metra train almost derailed once because someone stole all the spikes in that section of rail! What a scene that would be!

Here's the news article:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-27-3184583814_x.htm

Cheers,
Joshua
 
Here in Florida they steal the copper coils in air conditioners. Get a pretty good amount of money but as was stated above reputable scrap yards watch such transactions very closely.

Ben
 
Maybe it thinks that is a modern way to trace? Something needs doing as the crime us running into collossal sums. Churches too have suffered and one report said the same church had been hit 3 or 4 times and could no longer get insurance. The massive rail theft going on effects signalling and other equipment and interrupts services and the business of moving large numbers of people due to the ever increasing numbers in the country.
 
rjhowie said:
Maybe it thinks that is a modern way to trace? Something needs doing as the crime us running into collossal sums. Churches too have suffered and one report said the same church had been hit 3 or 4 times and could no longer get insurance. The massive rail theft going on effects signalling and other equipment and interrupts services and the business of moving large numbers of people due to the ever increasing numbers in the country.
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Yes, sometimes has to be done, but they should do it more strict. Personally I support the idea because I got in problems too, as I explained earlier in this thread.

My bet would be that you need papers from where you got the metal, or that they check it isn't stolen, something...
 
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