Crime wave hits Shanghai Metro with burglars

A CRIME wave has struck Metro stations and depots along the suburban stretches of the new lines, the Metro authority said yesterday.

Thieves had been cutting and removing expensive metal equipment such as iron pads on new escalators or signalling transmission equipment and wiring.

In an effort to cut the crime wave the Metro authority has started training German shepherd guard dogs and sends them on patrol at night at the most affected stations.

Thefts are most frequent at and near the new Line 9's Jiuting and Songjiang Xincheng stations, in the city's suburban Songjiang District.

The Metro authority said the thefts at the new outlying stations had been a headache even before the new lines began trial operations on December 29.

Shao Weizhong, a manager and spokesman with the Shanghai Metro Operation, said the company hoped to get support from related authorities and will upgrade security.

Yin Jun, a manager with the company's operations safety department, said 17 sets of signal transmission cables had been stolen recently from the new Metro equipment bases located beside the new lines.

"So far the new suburban stretches have had five cases of cable theft. Each time, dozens of meters of circuit cables and wire were cut away by burglars who climbed over the walls to sneak into the bases and train depots," Yin said.

The sudden loss of cables could disturb the power supply to the lines, causing train speeds to drop suddenly before emergency teams could make repairs and the worst-case scenario is a complete stoppage.

"Both the signal and power supply cables are vital to the operation of the Metro. Sudden damages to the wiring system would probably lead to service blackouts," said Yin.

"A serious interruption has not happened so far. But the loss of signal transmission equipment has already once forced trains on nearby stretches to run at only 20km/h."

The Jiuting Station on Line 9 has also been hit by thieves stripping iron pads from its escalators - the station's design has placed the escalators outside the station's doors.