UK: Rats attack the railways

[John Ashworth]

Rats attack the railways

Rat attacks are causing chaos on the railways, with hundreds of trains breaking down as the rodents gnaw through vital cables.

Daily Telegraph
By Heidi Blake
Published: 7:30AM GMT 03 Feb 2010

Transport bosses are preparing to spend millions preventing rats and mice from chewing tiny holes in power and IT wires laid alongside the UK's 20,000 miles of rail track.

A small hole gnawed through an inch-thick high voltage power cable caused a breakdown on the West Coast mainline in Cheshire last month, leading to 20 train cancellations and 99 delays.

Two weeks earlier, a special service carrying football fans to Carlisle United's FA Cup match against Everton was just one of 107 trains cancelled and another 289 delayed by a similar problem between Preston and Lancaster.

A two-year programme is under way to strengthen the rail system's defences by laying steel armoured replacement cables, and a Network Rail spokesman admitted yesterday that the project would cost millions.

"This is a serious problem and it does happen throughout the county," he said.

"We've got 20,000 miles of railway, all of which has got various types of cable whether it be signalling cable, telecommunications cable, or power supply cable running alongside the line.

"It’s going to cost us millions. But if you take into consideration the problems that instances like this cause – we effectively pay compensation to any delays that are caused to trains operators – having to spend money on replacement cables is going to save us money.”

Eric Martlew, the MP for Carlisle, was delayed on his way to watch Carlisle United play Everton on January 2.

He said; "It's a nonsense that the whole of the West Coast mainline could have been brought to a standstill by a mouse.

"The point is it should never have happened – the wires should have been protected and mighty mouse shouldn't have been allowed to stop Carlisle United fans in their tracks in this way."

Craig Johnston, a member of the RMT rail unions national executive committee, said he was astonished by the explanation for the delays.

"I've worked on the railways for 26 years and I've never heard anything like it – I find it difficult to believe," he said.