Infrastructure protectionNexans shows its anti-theft cable solutions

Nexans introduces cable security solutions // Source: allcomnetworks.com.my

Nexans, an expert in the cable industry, is launching its new anti-theft cable solutions at InnoTrans, which opened yesterday in Berlin. The solution promises to help network operators reduce the high volume of copper cables theft along their railway networks.

The solution comprises two approaches to help combat the theft of earthing cables. One focuses on cables which are harder to steal and less financially appealing to thieves, but which maintains full compatibility with the latest industry standards. The other uses a sophisticated fire resistant copper-tape marking system that helps alert the supply chain to theft.

Most cables – earthing cables in particular – are constructed entirely from copper, making them very valuable and appealing to thieves due to the high resale value of plain copper.

Nexans says its first approach involves reducing the recycle value of the cable whilst maintaining the performance of the cable.

The standard-sized copper core conductor is protected by an outer layer of alternating copper and galvanized steel wires, with a rugged PE (Polyethylene) outer jacket. The steel wires greatly complicate cable cutting with conventional tools, making it harder to steal, while the near impossibility of separating copper from steel reduces its value on the black market to a fraction of pure copper.

The company notes that these new patented anti-theft earthing cables are fully compatible in size with existing copper cables of equivalent performance, using the same tools and cable lugs and with excellent bending properties and form stability.

Typically, after cables have been stolen from railway tracks, thieves burn them to remove the insulation before selling the copper back into the supply chain. Normally, this will destroy all identification markings of the cables, making them impossible to trace.

To counter this problem, Nexans says it has developed a cable (patent pending) which incorporates a coded fire-resistant copper tape that is intertwined with the cable cores. The markings make it easy to trace the origins of the stolen copper when it is brought to a scrap dealer.

Since the tape is embedded along the length of the conductor, it is virtually impossible for the thief to remove it.

“Copper theft is a worldwide concern that creates serious safety and operational issues for railway networks across the globe, and Nexans is working closely with its customers to develop solutions that can significantly help to address this problem,” says, Jean Fehlbaum, vice president for Marketing Infrastructure and Industrial projects at Nexans. “Recycling is a vital element within the copper supply chain. But it is very difficult to establish the origin of recycled copper. However, we believe these new techniques offer excellent potential to make rail cables less attractive to steal as well as providing the wider copper supply chain with new tools to identify when stolen copper comes into the eco-system.”

Nexans says its anti-theft cables are currently being piloted in Europe by a number of network operators.