Service on the A suspended due to copper wire theft 5/27/15

This morning, service on the A in Queens was all sorts of messed up because copper thieves ran off with a bunch of cables, and service will be affected overnight to complete repairs.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says a "massive" copper cable theft is to blame for this morning's delays on the A line in Queens, affecting thousands of riders. The power loss forced the MTA to suspend service between Rockaway Boulevard and Broad Channel stations. MTA New York City Transit President Carmen Bianco says an A train lost power north of the Howard Beach station around midnight. After investigating the power failure, the agency says hundreds of feet of copper wire was discovered missing.

Read more here:http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/new ... theft.html

How did they manage to steal that much wire and not get electrocuted? Did they shut off the power or was this the return negative cables?

I was wondering the same thing.

Video from the MTA's youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJw6F42 ... ture=share

they grabbed the grounding wires.

kitn1mcc wrote:they grabbed the grounding wires.

...or more specifically the negative rail return circuit cables...

They knew not to tamper with the positive third rail feeder cables...

MACTRAXX

MACTRAXX wrote:

kitn1mcc wrote:they grabbed the grounding wires.

...or more specifically the negative rail return circuit cables...

They knew not to tamper with the positive third rail feeder cables...

MACTRAXX

Yes, and if you run a train onto a section with no ground, the whole train becomes hot. Can be nasty if the train makes it to a station. Also does a number on signal equipment.

Of course, if they gut a ground carrying several hundred Amps., they are in for a nasty surprise!