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Thieves steal wire from light rail line
A little work with the calculator says 4 miles for $200,000 comes to $9.50/ft. THAT is expensive wire. Is some one making a little money here? Besides the putative thieves?
It appears obvious that a low voltage current integrity circuit needs to be installed with the replacement wire so that Sound Transit will know that someone has cut the wire so that they can respond, monitor and apprehend the criminals.
Some of the most successful and sophisticated criminals are those that “fence” stolen metals.
Any fool can chance to pull wire that may at any time become “hot” but a “fence” has to be able to convert the wire to cash, which requires dealers/processors whose ability to ask about ethical ownership of the copper, or other metals, is genetically limited.
Maybe a metal- oriented security agency, Coppertons instead of Pinkertons might succeed. Think of…copper Coppers.
So who’s watching the scrapyards that accept it?
Better yet, HIGH voltage current.
Sound Transit is fortunate. Thieves have ripped out and stolen operating signal cables on AMTRAK’s NEC line and shut down the entire system for hours.
Need much higher voltage. ZAP THEM
That the thieves were apparently able to do this multiple times without being caught does not inspire confidence in the security of this portion of the system against terrorists, or even just other vandals. Suppose they had stolen the anti-corrosion wires from the runway approach lights at an airport ?
Copper metal is selling for about $3.50/lb today. Scrap for somewhat less. The cost of a finished product like wire would be higher. I believe, but am not totally certain, that one of the big NY investment banks (Goldman ?) controls copper pricing and supply. Copper demand isn’t the big factor it used to be. In the old days, supply and demand floated freely on the London Metal Exchange. Copper markets, like other commodities, are now controlled and driven by speculators.
To bad full voltage didn’t manage to stray into that wire.
To get that much wire, someone had to know something about the system - when it was on, when it was off. Sounds like an “inside” job to me. Look for an employee(s).
Two good comments have been made, One, too bad the voltage wasn’t higher, and fry them on the spot,and two…monitor the scrap yards.