Hundreds of meters of communication cables were cut and stolen from the Israel Railways signaling system in the Lehavim area.
December 10, 2022 (Israel Railways)
The employees of the control center of the railway in Lod, 'Mashua', were the first to receive the warning on Friday night about the sabotage of the communication cable network of the Israel Railways in the Lahavim area in the south.
Because the cables are used by the train's operating system and communication with the trains along the tracks, and are critical to the safety of the journey, their role is to continuously monitor its integrity.
Despite the fear of the theft of 300 meters of cables, which was apparently done to sell the copper inside them, the railway's maintenance teams managed to replace them by the afternoon.
Contrary to early concerns, traffic on Saturday evening was conducted according to the planned schedule, which itself suffered from disruptions due to planned works on the track (apart from the service between Tel Aviv and Lod stations and Netvakh, which was conducted by shuttles).
But the incident also illustrated the unbearable ease of damaging a major means of transportation.
Since the Corona period, when its activity was halted in a controversial move for three months, the train has recorded a constant improvement in passenger traffic, which is very close to the level before the epidemic.
Last Friday, the thieves took advantage of the fact that the train does not operate on weekends, but such an event could have disrupted traffic for thousands of passengers.
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Theft of communication cables, Friday (photo: official website, Israel Railways)
A similar incident occurred in April, in the same area, when the trains between Beer Sheva and Kiryat Gat were shut down for long hours, in the middle of the work day.
Thousands were late for meetings at the center, for classes at Ben Gurion University, and for children who were waiting at home.
Today, when the west-to-south line through Ashkelon operates with limited frequency due to the electrification works, the damage of such damage can be significantly greater - due to the lack of an alternative of additional lines.
This event could definitely happen again.
The communication cables are buried near the tracks, and not at a great depth, to allow access to them in the event of a malfunction.
In addition, the railway is currently investing in a new signaling system based on an independent cellular network, which will be ready next year, and is being built with an investment of NIS 2.5 billion - but the communication cables will remain in use as a backup for the cellular network.
In the train, following the incident, it was decided to increase security in the south and add cameras along the tracks, to detect such incidents at an earlier stage, and to mobilize forces even before the communication system is damaged.
But this problem is big on the train, and does not only concern the safety of the tracks.
The cable thefts join the wave of crime in the south, which includes the theft of weapons from the IDF's training grounds, the theft of electricity poles, the collection of sponsorship fees, and more. The designated minister of internal security, Itamar Ben Gabir, said in recent days that he intends to move border guard forces from the areas to the south, in order to fight In the Bedouin crime. If the state does not strengthen the rails in the south as soon as possible, and the railway does not learn to improve the security of the rails, this will not be the last incident of its kind.
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