Delays of up to an hour and cancellations in some instances have plagued the V/Line passenger services on the Albury to Southern Cross run since the start of November.

Copper wire theft has been a long-running problem for track operators, the Australian Rail Track Corporation, which has confirmed copper wiring will move from overhead poles to underground cabling in the $235 million upgrade of the North-East line.

“Since the start of November there have been eight instances of line wire theft in the North-East rail corridor which have impacted on 25 freight and 22 passenger trains,” an ARTC spokesman said.

“This caused 882 minutes of delays to freight services and 685 minutes to passenger services.

“That’s over 26 hours in delays since the start of the month.

“We currently do not have a cost figure for the copper wire theft.

“But safety is our number one priority and those engaging in this activity have little regard for the safety and reliability of our network, and the passengers and freight operators who use it.”

“To try and combat this ARTC is working closely with police and all rail corridor stakeholders.”

“The scope of works for the $235 million North East Line Upgrade includes moving copper signaling wire from overhead poles to underground cabling.

“This is directly aimed at reducing copper wire theft.”

Measures to prevent copper wire theft were budgeted into the original funding allocation of $100,000 from the federal government.

The thefts and subsequent delays is going to make a huge hit on the punctuality performance of the long-distance line in November.

In October, the North-East line had a 81.6 per cent punctuality rating, which was more than 10 per cent down on V/Line’s own target.

The line had been hovering in the 80 to 86 per cent range between June and August after a horror start to the year.

Works on the $235 million North-East line upgrade are due to start in March next year and be completed in 2021.

The timeline was released following recent confirmation from the federal government that the scope of works had been given the green light to go ahead.