DMRC to replace copper wires to prevent theft

DMRC will replace 33KV copper cables with aluminum over 175km to deter theft, targeting theft-prone areas across four metro lines in 18 months.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has floated a tender to replace the 33 kilovolt (KV) copper cables with aluminium wires over 175km of the metro network. Officials said the change has been planned following recent cable thefts from the metro, with the latest such incident impacting operations on the Pink Line for an entire day on Thursday.

The exercise will be carried out over a period of 18 months. (HT Archive)

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Officials explained that while copper cables will fetch the thieves ₹700-750 per kg, aluminium wires are one-third the value, fetching around ₹200-250 per kg, thus not making them as attractive an option.

The exercise will be carried out over a period of 18 months and will target theft-prone areas on the Yellow Line (Millenium City Centre to Samaypur Badli), Blue Line (Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida Electronic City), Violet Line (Kashmere Gate to Raja Nahar Singh) and Pink Line (Maujpur-Babarpur to Yamuna Vihar), officials aware of the development said.

“The contract has to be completed within 18 months after awarding of tender and it targets theft-prone areas over four metro lines. A similar exercise was done in 2024 too, where we replaced 140 km of copper cables with aluminium,” an official said.

The metro network in Delhi-NCR accounts for about 416 km comprising 303 stations, meaning over two-thirds of the network would have transitioned to aluminium cables by the end of 2027, officials said.

The latest data shows that between April 1, 2025 and March 13, 2026, a total of 58 cases of thefts were reported from various corridors of the network. This included 33 cases of traction cables, 16 cases of signalling cables and 9 cases of electrical cables

DMRC said while traditional cable theft points like Yamuna Bank on the Blue Line have been strategically reinforced with extra security, new cable theft hotspots have emerged near Seelampur and Shahdara (Red Line), between Jahangirpuri and Haiderpur (Yellow Line) and between Kirti Nagar and Rajouri Garden (Blue line). Stations of the Red Line are located closer to houses in the area, making it easy for thieves to use the terrace to jump onto the stations.

HT had on April 5, 2025 reported that between June 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025, at least 22km or 44,000kg of copper cables, worth almost ₹4 crore, was stolen from the DMRC network. The data, accessed by HT, had shown out of the 89 thefts since June 2024, 35 cases were of traction cables, 32 were signalling cables and 22 were electrical cables.

“Any damage to the cables causes unwarranted delay in metro services as replacing them during revenue service hours where trains run every 3-5 minutes is quite challenging and risky. Despite this, DMRC has attempted emergency measures to ensure replacement of cables is done promptly and avoid inconvenience to passengers. However, sometimes if that doesn’t materialise, the restoration work is generally taken up in the night, after revenue services are over,” said a DMRC official.

Other measures taken to prevent cable theft include cementing of signalling cables, installation of anti-theft clamps and concertina wires (high-security barbed wires). Further, security guards have also been deployed in certain areas.

“There are also regular inspections carried out by DMRC security inspectors and Delhi Metro Rail Police (DMRP). Further, we prune trees near the elevated sections,” the official quoted above said.

As per DMRC data, out of the 89 cases reported between June 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025, 16 were on the Red Line section, seven from the elevated stretch on the Yellow Line, while six were reported from the elevated stretch on the Blue Line. Over 40 thefts in total actually occurred on elevated sections, including stealing cables from overhead equipment masts.