10038790Unauthorised Cable Removal and Fault Triage (CRAFT)ClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKWhen cable thefts occur the operation of the railway, often in nationally critical locations, can be brought to a standstill with significant impact on passengers and freight supply-chains. Under extreme industry and public pressure, Network Rail must delay scheduled activities and scramble teams to effect repairs and get critical railway operational systems working again. Current technology may not be able to locate the break to better than a few km accuracy, meaning long periods of manual inspection are required to locate the exact position of the theft before the repair can be started. This wastes valuable time, increasing the effect of the theft on the efficiency of the network and creating cost for operators and delays for customers. This proposal is for a technology solution, using existing trackside optical fibre cables, which can be used to locate cable thefts instantly to within +/- 1m. After a theft is reported or detected by other system, automatic analysis will pinpoint the location of the acoustic signatures of the theft activity. The location of the theft will be instantly displayed, both on a map overlay with geographical coordinates, and as a linear ELR, miles and yards track location. This will enable first-responder policing and security to be deployed sooner and more accurately. Secondly, with an accurately timed and positioned event signature, there is an opportunity for other parties with evidence collecting abilities (e.g. Forward Facing CCTV on trains) to more proactively, and possibly automatically, to retain evidence which may support prosecution. Thirdly the Network Rail engineering team will be given advanced information to allow them to attend the site with the right materials and resource to affect an earlier resolution. As secondary activity we will enable location of optical cable by creating a companion georeferencing co-reference for the trackside fibre cable, so that faults and fibre issues can be located instantly to a more precise physical location. This provides a valuable tool for Network Rail's engineering teams, to reduce time for maintenance and fault finding.