The incident took place around 7.55pm on Monday, 26 July 2010 when the cable was cut and stolen from Swaithes viaduct, approximately half a mile from Wombwell rail station.

PC John Chapman-Hart, the investigating officer, said: “This theft of cable from the railway line caused significant delays to services in the area. Four passenger trains were cancelled and 38 more were delayed, in total the incident caused nine and a half hours of disruption to the network.

“The act of stealing cable is an extremely dangerous crime which is costly to the rail industry and to the thousands of passengers who rely on the rail network.

“As part of our efforts to trace those responsible for cable theft we visit scrap yards in the area as most cable thieves look for the quickest way to sell on the stolen goods – scrap yards are one such method.

“We work closely with scrap yard owners to monitor any cable which is brought in and, with assistance from railway and telecoms experts, can quickly identify stolen cable.

“Technological and forensic advances are making life more and more difficult for cable thieves and are increasing the opportunities for BTP to detect criminals.”

Richard Lungmuss, route director for Network Rail, said: “The theft of cable is a constant drain on our resources and cause of considerable disruption to rail passengers as we have seen with this latest incident.

“This is not acceptable.  We are already carrying out considerable work to deter thieves and to respond to incidents quickly in order to minimise delay.

“I would also ask anyone with any information to report their suspicions to Crimestoppers – they could receive up to £1,000 reward.”

PC Chapman-Hart added: “We are making local enquiries into the incident in the area.  Anyone with information that could assist the investigation is asked to contact British Transport Police on Freefone 0800 40 50 40 quoting incident 554 of 26/07/2010 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”