PADANG BESAR: More effective methods, including the use of monitoring technology, will be considered to address the widespread cable theft that is disrupting railway operations, says Anthony Loke
The Transport Minister said his ministry is looking into the use of technology to detect and prevent cable theft from recurring, as the thefts are a major issue 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.
“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,” he said to Bernama at a press conference after the inauguration ceremony of the Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Free Trade Zone-Perlis Inland Port (PIP) here yesterday.
The event was officiated by the Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail, who was accompanied by the Regent of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail.
Loke said his ministry and the Home Ministry are also discussing tightening the laws against such thefts because even with current action being taken on these cases, they are still rampant.
He said that the cases have become a major challenge, considering that the high price of copper is believed to be driving such activities.
On top of that, the national rail network spans approximately 1,000km, thus making monitoring efforts challenging.
“Monitoring every kilometre is indeed difficult because there are areas that are quite remote, and this makes it easier for thieves to access our tracks,” he said.
Loke added that his team is also examining practices and appropriate solutions used by other countries to address the issue, considering that cable thefts also occur in other countries.
“The case of cable theft is not unique to Malaysia; all countries with a rail system face the same problem, and indeed, there are countries that may already have better solutions. We are trying to see what solutions have been implemented by others.”
