SAN JOSE, Calif. — Resumption of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail service will be delayed until Monday, March 31, because of theft of copper wire along the light rail system, KGO-TV reports.
VTA light rail and bus service have been halted since March 10 because of a strike by 1,500 workers. Bus operations are slated to resume today after a judge issued an injunction ordering the members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 back to work [see “Judge orders Santa Clara VTA workers to end strike,” Trains News Wire, March 27, 2025].
“During the last two weeks when there was no train running on any track anywhere, copper wire theft skyrocketed, particularly on one of our lines,” VTA spokeswoman Stacey Hendler Ross told the station. “So that has to be replaced; that work has to be done. We want to make sure that everything is as safe as it possibly can be before we get service going.”
Union members remain without a contract, and no new negotiations have been scheduled. The union has said it will appeal the judge’s ruling.
Back in the day it was easy for the copper wire thieves to operate. As the Rock Island and the Milwaukee were being shut down the copper thieves just had to drive along adjacent roads and see the greenish colored copper wire and out came the wire cutters. Salvage yards knowing it was stolen would buy it at discounted rates.
–Steel wire clad with copper is a better item. The steel does not expand as much as copper. + all replacement wire needs imprints with name of owner before installing.
Did they leave the line energized? IRM does, it’s cheaper, especially when not under a load, than replacing wire. Also a rude surprise for the occasional wanna be thief
I doubt the vandalism was connected to the strikers. There are plenty of copper thieves (as Caltrain found out both during construction and operation).
A possible explanation might be that the lines were deenergized during the strike, or at least there might have been the thieves’ expectation. Either way, it takes a pro to steal copper from a transit line. Unlike an abandoned house or factory.
If it was thievery, then why doesn’t the San Jose operators consider aluminum, though that might have some theft value as well. But I believe it was actually striker sabotage, too coincidental.
https://www.chalcoaluminum.com/application/aluminum-electrical/electric-traction-wire/
Scrap aluminum at the “scrapper” is high right now. At least it is down here in Southwest Florida.
Aluminum is also a poor electrical conductor compared to copper.
I am not going to say you are wrong John, but all the service entrance’s, (SER’s) that I have seen are aluminum. Lower cost and lighter weight. I don’t have the knowledge to know if aluminum would be applicable for rail overhead or not.
@John; “Aluminum is also a poor electrical conductor compared to copper.”
Aluminum is certainly not a poor conductor compared to copper, but rather, slightly less conductive than copper. Otherwise the vendor in my above link would not be marketing aluminum trolley wire, which due to it’s typically higher nominal 600-750 volts, is much less prone to line losses (I squared R), almost as good as copper. And electrical power companies always use aluminum wire on their pole lines these days, in place of historical copper poleline wire.
https://tampasteel.com/best-metals-conduct-electricity/
So is this vandalism connected to the strikers?
How much impact has the stoppage of VTA light rail service on local traffic?
Welcome to California. Who is surprised by this?
Anyone thinking that California is more likely to experience thievery has no historical knowledge. On my former B&O Chicago line back in the 70s we had signal outages due to copper theft from pole lines in rural western Ohio.
Same here on EL-Rwy in NJ, NY, and rural PA though the 1970s and beyond, where thieves stole much of my #6 & #9AWG pure copper open telephone wire off of the crossarm glass insulators. We then replaced the stolen spans of #9AWG pure copper with #8 AWG copperclad over steel wire. Thieves would cut the no-value #8 clad just once and walk away.