Scrap metal theft disrupts train traffic in Prague

Sep 23, 2008, 15:41 GMT

Prague - Theft of copper cable at Prague's railway hub disrupted train traffic in the Czech capital for half a day on Tuesday, officials said.

Thieves stole 15 metres of a communication cable at the main train station, and were likely to sell it as scrap, said Pavel Halla, a spokesman for the Railway Infrastructure Administration.

The theft halted dozens of trains since the early hours as the thieves severed two cables crucial for traffic between several Prague stations, Halla said. Trains resumed running in mid-afternoon.

The stolen cable will earn the thieves less than 1,000 koruny (60 dollars) at a scrap yard, a dealer said, while its replacement will cost some 50,000 koruny (3,000 dollars), according to Halla.

It was the second such theft this week. On Monday, trains came to a standstill between two Prague stations after 50 metres of cable disappeared. Workers replaced the stretch only to find the 15-metre portion of it missing again on Tuesday, Halla said.

Theft of metal for scrap, fuelled by soaring global metal prices, has plagued the Czech Republic for years, but several reckless cases made headlines in recent months.

Scrap metal thieves stole bronze name tablets from a Holocaust memorial as well as whole iron bridges. There have been cases of thieves being killed while stealing live electric cable.

The state-owned Railway Infrastructure Administration, which runs the country's rail infrastructure, lost 23 million koruny (1.4 million dollars) to such crime in 2007, Halla said.