Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Spain's train service disrupted by theft of copper cables near Barcelona

by Associated Press

   Barcelona, Spain --

   Commuter rail service for Barcelona and northeastern Spain has suffered
   major disruption because of the theft of copper cables from a train
   installation, Spanish rail authorities said Sunday.

   Thousands of commuters were stranded at train stations in and around
   Barcelona after trains couldn't run on several commuter lines.

   The disruption to local transport came while more than 5.7 million
   voters were eligible to participate in a regional election in
   Catalonia.

   Spain's state-owned railway authority ADIF said that the theft of
   electrical cabling from a station just north of Barcelona in the town
   of Montcada caused "several fires in the cables of the signaling
   system."

   It said that the incident around 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) caused a
   "serious" impact to the local train service and affected all the rail
   lines.

   Catalonia's commuter rail service suffers regular delays, some because
   of similar acts of theft.