The situation caused by the theft of copper cable in railway facilities in Catalonia is reaching unsustainable levels. This week is proving to be especially critical, as demonstrated by the new incident that had to be regretted yesterday. During the previous morning, taking advantage of the darkness once again, some individuals tore out 120 meters of catenary on line R4, between the Sabadell Sud and Cerdanyola stations. This new act of vandalism forced the number of trains per hour and direction to be limited to just two and to establish an alternative service to the R7 by road between Cerdanyola Universitat and Cerdanyola.
Copper thieves, a material that has seen an appreciation in recent times, are especially active in recent days. Without going any further, in the early hours of Sunday to Monday, 400 meters of cable were stolen on R3 early in the morning, which prevented the service from starting between Parets del Vallès and La Garriga, since this section is still single track. Precisely, the Ministry of Transport, through the railway manager Adif, is carrying out the works to duplicate the entire line.
Cable theft is a problem that seriously affects the infrastructure and services of Rodalies in Catalonia, where this type of criminal activity has doubled, while in Spain as a whole the opposite trend occurred, with a decrease of 7, 4% last year.
In 2023, 151 cable thefts or attempted thefts, especially copper, were recorded in Catalonia. The previous year there were 70. These one hundred and a half abductions represent 42% of the cases that occurred throughout Spain last year. The most affected province is Barcelona, ??which recorded 105 events of these characteristics in 2023, a figure that tripled the 36 in all of 2022.
Things have not improved so far this year. To date, 14 robberies have already been recorded throughout Catalonia, 12 of them in Barcelona, ??and the remaining two, in the province of Lleida. In all cases they directly affected the Rodalies network and interrupted or limited service during the time it took to carry out the repair.
Renfe points out that around 40% of the incidents in Rodalies are unrelated to railway operation. Among the external causes, in addition to cable theft, the company cites vandalism, with a special incidence of stones thrown at convoys and the action of graffiti artists, road accidents or adverse weather conditions.
Renfe points out that all these incidents, which it calls “unacceptable”, affect the quality and punctuality of the services. According to the company, it is “working like never before” to minimize the effects of these events by investing in the renewal of the fleet and the transformation of infrastructure, such as the works to split the R3 or the implementation of the ERTMS system (System European Railway Traffic Management).
For its part, Adif assures that it is working on various lines of action to address this situation, reinforcing surveillance patrols, reporting each episode and collaborating with the Mossos d’Esquadra. This strategy has already allowed the detection of people or groups around construction sites and roads, but it is still insufficient to stop this problem, which affects thousands of users.