Cable theft leaves 150 trains delayed in Cape Town

Lusanda Bill
31 October 2014

Theft of four metres of cable towards Cape Town station resulted in major delays of about an hour this morning leaving commuters stranded. 

Regional Manager Richard Walker said 150 trains were affected during the peak hour. 

Walker has called on the public to report scrap dealers buying copper without the requisite certificates of origin. 

Metrorail’s Riana Scott said when cable theft affects us like that where 73 core cables are cut it is difficult to restore.  However our technicians rushed to the scene and managed to repair the cable but by then the peak hour backlog had already had significant delays.

Scott said currently the delays are down to 40 minutes and we apologies to our customers for this delays.

“We will be sitting with the police to see how we can secure the area to prevent a recurrence” Scott added.