Rail passengers in Bradford are reaping the benefits of years of work to tackle metal theft on railways, the latest industry figures show.

Network Rail has been targeting the crime which, at its peak, caused more than 1,000 hours’ worth of delays to trains in West and North Yorkshire in a single year.

Now, figures show there has been a 93 per cent drop in delays caused by cable theft, the number of cable thefts affecting rail services is down 87 per cent, and compensation costs have fallen by almost £1.5 million.

A group representing rail passengers in Bradford has welcomed the reduction, although the district’s biggest train operator has warned that there is no “time to rest” in the bid to maintain the positive trend.

Phil Verster, route managing director for Network Rail, said: “Thieves targeting the rail network in West and North Yorkshire have caused misery to passengers and delay to essential freight supplies for too long. These figures show the true success of working in partnership with British Transport Police, our customers, other industries and the public to target this blight on our railway.

“The improvements we have seen are down to a number of factors, including BTP targeting thieves and the scrap dealers buying stolen metal; our engineers developing cables that are harder to steal and easier to identify; teams around the route introducing new ways of working to reduce delay and fix thefts more quickly; and our rail partners and the public have become our eyes and ears – reporting suspicious activity which helps us to react quickly.

“We have also seen the introduction of new laws following our work with other industries. This will make selling illegal scrap much more difficult.”

James Vasey, chairman of Bradford Rail Users’ Group, said: “It is fantastic news. Network Rail and British Transport Police are obviously doing a very good job reducing these problems and hopefully that will continue.

“Rail delays in the morning can have a massive knock-on effect. It can be at a cost to the individual. Not everyone has an understanding boss who accepts cable theft as an excuse every morning.”

Detective Chief Inspector Gill Murray, of British Transport Police, said: “Tackling metal theft in an effective manner is now embedded across police forces and within several industries and, with new legislation due to come into force later this year, there can be no doubt that the UK remains committed to tackling a crime which strikes at the very heart of its infrastructure.”

Richard Allan, area director for Northern Rail, which operates trains on the Airedale, Wharfedale and Caldervale lines, said: “While this is good news for passengers there is no time to rest, we’ll continue to work to maintain this positive trend.”