South African metal thieves have stolen up to 10km of working railway track

Metal thieves in the Ekurhuleni municipality in South Africa have stolen up to 10km (6 miles) of working railway track, causing about R25 million (£1.3m, $2.3m) of damage. Huge chunks of track were stolen over the course of several months from a line used to take trains from Johannesburg to a depot in the town of Nigel.



The financial effect could also threaten hundreds of jobs and force a repair depot to close its doors. A meeting was held on Monday between the municipality, rail authorities, police and the repair depot to discuss how to fix the problem, after it emerged last week that the railway line had been stolen by what appeared to be a highly professional gang of thieves.

Thumbu Mahlangu, the Ekurhuleni MMC for roads and transport, said it was too early to assess when construction would begin. “Government is taking full responsibility (for the replacement),” he said. He said they would work closely with Transnet and the carriage repair company the track serviced, the Commuter Transport and Locomotive Engineering (CTLE) depot. CTLE estimated the size of the theft to be bigger than the 5km that was initially thought to have been stolen.


YouTube link.

“It is probably now 7km (or) 8km. Even up to 10km,” said Thembaletu Fikizolo, CTLE’s human resources executive. Ten kilometres of rail equals 960 tons of steel and an estimated R2.6 million on the scrap market. The director of a Gauteng-based railway construction company calculated it could cost up to R25m to replace 10km of track.