Behind many of the daily service interruptions suffered by Rodalies are the copper thieves who operate throughout the railway network with total impunity. They do so in metropolitan area points in broad daylight or in some remote and lonely place at dawn. There is no clear pattern beyond acting quickly, wiping out everything, and leaving the corresponding impact on service users as a consequence.
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In the first half of the year, 152 cable thefts were reported at the facilities of the Railway Infrastructure Administrator (Adif) in Catalonia. This is practically one theft every day, a figure that doubles last year’s and almost matches in six months the 184 thefts recorded in all of 2025.
“There is not a day without a copper theft, the only question is where it will be and how serious the impact will be,” summarizes a source from the sector who observes with concern the excessive growth of recent months and the lack of police action to prevent it. The evolution is even more alarming when compared to the number of thefts from a few years ago: in 2022, the total for the entire year was what is now recorded in just one month, according to Adif data.
The Government seeks a formula to toughen penalties for cable thefts
These figures do not yet include the numerous thefts recorded during July and so far in August. The R3 line is one of the black spots. Several have occurred in recent days. The latest, for now, left the Vic line practically out of service all day Wednesday on the section that still runs with difficulty between La Garriga and Puigcerdà. The doubling works are another favorite place for thieves, who sometimes take the material even before it is installed.
Another scenario showing the destruction caused by these thefts is the line connecting Lleida and Tarragona. Since mid-July, circulation has been interrupted between Les Borges Blanques and La Plana-Picamoixons. A theft led to a fire in the Vinaixa interlocking and other auxiliary facilities, leaving the railway signaling and safety systems completely unusable for at least a month, which has forced part of the R13 and R14 lines’ journey to be made by an alternative bus service during this entire time.
The war report is constant. The latest arrests took place a week ago, when three individuals were caught red-handed in Mollet del Vallès. They were equipped with an angle grinder, bolt cutters, and a voltage tester to avoid getting burned as has happened to more than one in the trade when cutting the cable without sufficient precautions.
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Across Spain, Adif has filed 409 complaints during the first half of the year, almost the same as in all of 2025, when the record for meters of cable stolen since 2018 was broken. Catalonia is the community that leads the number of thefts by a wide margin. One in four complaints filed by Adif since 2018 corresponded to Catalonia, specifically 27.7%, a percentage that is even higher in the first half of this year, reaching 37.8%.
The thefts on the tracks used by Rodalies trains are much higher than in the rest of Spain, “abnormally high data,” as Minister Óscar Puente acknowledged after one of the most notorious thefts, during the 2024 election day. In Aragon, 13.3% of the thefts occur, with a significant part of these in the border area with Catalonia. They are followed by Andalusia (11.6%) and Madrid (9.4%).
Behind this increase is the high price of copper, which has soared due to the geopolitical situation in recent times. The value on the London metal exchange has reached levels not seen in a decade, and this translates to scrap yards that buy the material without asking about its dubious origin.
In response to the notable increase in recorded thefts, the Ministry of Transport is working on a proposal to reform article 240 of the Penal Code to toughen penalties for these crimes, which include cable thefts linked to electrification, as well as signaling and telecommunications equipment. Some are copper; others, fiber optic, but the result is the same: service interruption and impact on the suffering users.
Fines that make one think twice are the same strategy that the Generalitat is promoting to fight against the other great scourge facing the railway: graffiti artists. Through a modification of the Catalan railway law, it aims to toughen sanctions with fines ranging from 18,000 euros to nearly one million. The fine seeks to be the final blow to pressure that has increased in recent months and has focused on fighting aerosol vandals using drones, canine units, and greater coordination with the Mossos. The result, for now, is that while copper thefts soar, graffiti attacks have plummeted.
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