Copper cable thieves disrupt train traffic in Germany

Thieves

A thief who stole copper cables from the railway in the western German city of Bochum has knocked out train traffic to the city’s central station for at least a day.

The disruption resulted in numerous delays and cancellations of trains services through Bochum, according to a spokesman for Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national rail service.

“There’s nothing going on there at all,” said a railway spokesman in Berlin.

The perpetrators apparently cut through fiber optic lines while trying to strip copper cables from a nearby train station in the Ehrenfeld district of Bochum.

Long-distance trains were forced to bypass Bochum, a city in the densely population Ruhr region, while replacement bus services offered temporary connections to nearby Essen and Dortmund.

The disruption is expected to last until Tuesday, so that rush hour traffic on Tuesday morning will also be affected, said a railway spokesman.

It is the second time in a week that cable thieves have disrupted train traffic in the city.

A similar incident happened last Tuesday, also cutting off train access to Bochum Central Station and resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of train connections.

(dpa/NAN)