METAL theft from railways is up by a third in 12 months and has cost train passengers more than £1.5m in the past three years, figures show.

Network Rail said the North-East was a hotspot for criminals targeting cables to sell for scrap, which has caused train passengers to be delayed by more than 1,000 hours over the past three years.

Metal theft from the rail network has become such a problem, it is now a transport police priority, second only to terrorism.

Theft of cables last month was up by almost half year on year.

In 2010/11 in the North-East: 􀁥 £475,000 was spent on compensation for services delayed by cable theft; 􀁥 More than 150 attacks were made on rail systems – a 33 per cent rise on the previous year; 􀁥 Passengers were delayed by more than 360 hours; 􀁥 Transport police recorded 1,184 crimes and made more than 200 arrests.

Since the start of the new financial year, there have been a further 25 attacks in the North-East, causing more than 115 hours of delay and costing an additional £240,000.

In an attempt to catch and deter thieves, transport police have established a task force and increased patrols.

Extra officers have been funded by Network Rail and the Serious Organised Crime Agency is working alongside police.

Helicopter, CCTV, forensic marking, trembler alarms and a new type of cable that is easier to identify and harder to steal have also been used.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “I cannot over-emphasise just how serious these crimes are. Cable thieves deny passengers the service they rightly expect and, through the massive cost to the industry, deny everyone improvements to rail services.

“We are doing everything we can to protect the railway and will continue to work closely with British Transport Police and other rail partners to do everything in our power to deter thieves and bring those who attack our network to justice.”

Anyone with information about cable theft is asked to call police on 0800-40-50-40 or Crimestoppers on 0800-555- 111.