Sep 10, 2008 6:28 pm US/Central
Copper Wire Theft Disrupts South Shore Train Line
GARY, Ind. (CBS) ―
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Vandals dug up buried bundles of rubber-coated copper wires along the South Shore train line.
CBS
Thieves stealing copper wire have been disrupting service on the South Shore Electric train line, and they struck again Tuesday night.
CBS 2 Northwest Indiana Bureau Chief Pamela Jones reports three of those incidents happened Tuesday night at locations in Hammond and in Gary. And early Tuesday morning a location in the Hegewisch neighborhood in Chicago was hit.
Some South Shore trains running through northwest Indiana slowed to a stop as train signals from Kennedy Avenue west showed red Wednesday morning after someone clipped wires connecting the signals with the track. It caused delays of up to 20 minutes for commuters heading into Chicago.
The wires are normally buried, but vandals dug them up, preparing to get away with the valuable braided copper inside.
"This is multiple strands of copper wire and it's rubber clad. And if you look, it's about an inch thick. And because of that it brings a higher value at the scrap yards," said Chief Robert Byrd of NICTD Police.
An engineer spotted someone along the tracks sometime around 6:30 Tuesday night and reported the incident before they could cut the cable.
Police believe it would take a good understanding about railroads to pull of the crime.
"They have to know something," Byrd said. "They're very well versed in our train operations, signals, the theft of the metals."
And he says whoever is responsible also knows they left behind copper here they could have sold, and chances are, they'll be back.
"We certainly ask that if anybody sees anybody on or near our tracks to call us at 219-398-6000," Byrd said.
Luckily, when there's a malfunction like the missing wires the train signals automatically tell the person running the train to stop, so trains don't end up colliding.
A Metra spokesperson says copper wiring has been stolen from their tracks in the past as well, but was never extensive enough to cause service disruptions.
And it's a crime that doesn't stop on the tracks. Police say Saturday, they arrested three people who were trying to recycle some metal grates stolen from a storage yard the day before.
(CBS 2 and the Post-Tribune are news partners covering stories in the communities of northwest Indiana. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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