The government is mulling over more effective ways to address the widespread cable theft that is affecting railway operations. According to Transport Minister Anthony Loke, his ministry is looking into the use of monitoring technology to detect and prevent cable theft activities from recurring. Such thefts pose a major problem for railways, particularly in the northern region of the peninsula.
“It cannot be seen as normal theft because they disrupt services and can even affect public safety,” Loke explained. “This is a national security and state security issue because the theft of these cables has caused significant disruptions to our services and poses a danger to the public.”
Furthermore, the minister revealed that the Transport Ministry and the Home Ministry are discussing tighter laws to address the issue. At the moment, cable theft is still rampant even with the authorities taking action. Loke went on to note that the high price of copper may be a driving factor for these crimes.
In addition to this, he highlighted the challenges in dealing with railway cable theft. As it stands, the national rail network spans approximately 1,000km, making it difficult to monitor. Moreover, there are sections along the railway that are quite remote. This means that thieves can easily access the tracks without getting caught.
That said, Loke assured that his team is exploring multiple avenues to combat the problem. He mentioned that the ministry is examining practices and appropriate solutions used by other countries, since the issue is not limited to Malaysia. Additionally, he acknowledged that all nations with a rail system face this problem, and that some regions may have found better solutions. As such, Malaysia is trying to see the solutions implemented by others.
Earlier this week, roughly 100m of cable between Sungai Siput and Kamunting had been stolen. This led to major disruptions to the Electric Train Service (ETS) and KTM Komuter Utara services ahead of the Hari Raya Aidiladha holiday.
(Source: The Star)
