On New Year's Eve, mass cancellations and train delays occurred in England due to the theft of 200 meters of signal cables between Doncaster and Sheffield. The incident, recorded around 04:00 GMT, caused a malfunction in the signaling systems, forcing trains to run at reduced speed. This was reported by the BBC, writes UNN.
Details
According to Network Rail, the crime led to the cancellation of 13 services, and another 83 trains were delayed for a total of more than 15 hours. The problem affected the routes of Northern, CrossCountry, and TransPennine Express companies, including connections to Edinburgh, Birmingham, and Liverpool. For passengers in the affected regions, railway workers temporarily lifted restrictions on the use of tickets during peak hours.
Industry representatives emphasized that such thefts are deadly due to the high voltage in the cables and cause millions of losses to the state. Full repair of the infrastructure is planned for the night, after the last passenger train passes. Currently, the British Transport Police are looking for the culprits, and railway services are working on implementing new systems for protecting copper cables.