Power supply cables worth ₹9 lakh stolen from metro tracks in Ahmedabad, FIR lodged

In a major incident that disrupted early morning Metro services in Ahmedabad, unidentified thieves allegedly stole approximately 500 metres of high-value copper power supply cables from the tracks between Shahpur and Old High Court Metro stations. The stolen cables, critical to powering the Metro trains, are valued at an estimated ₹9 lakh.

According to the complaint lodged by Ganesh Ishwarkumar, a Section Engineer with Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC), the theft came to light early on Wednesday morning, when he received a call around 6.30 am from the traction control unit reporting an unexpected power failure on the Shahpur–Old High Court Metro stretch.

The power outage brought Metro operations to a halt, with the 6.15 am train held up at Shahpur station. Notably, the last train to pass through the affected section was at 5.40 am.

Ganesh, who has been serving with the GMRC for the past four years, rushed to the Shahpur Metro station, where he and his team discovered that copper power cables had been cut and stolen from the steel bridge section of the Metro track.

Upon inspection, it was found that a total of 20 copper cables — each approximately 25 metres in length — had been removed from multiple brackets along both the up and down lines between Shahpur and Old High Court stations. The stolen cables were part of the critical traction power system, which supplies electricity to run the Metro trains.

The locations affected include:

* Up Line: Bracket Nos. 07U/093 to 07U/098 and 07U/076 to 07U/081

* Down Line: Bracket Nos. 07D/099 to 07D/094 and 07D/077 to 07D/082

Each metre of copper cable is estimated to cost around ₹1,800, putting the total value of the theft at roughly ₹9 lakh.

A formal complaint has been lodged at Shahpur Police Station by the GMRC team, including Ganesh and Deputy General Manager (Security) Jagatsinh Makwana. They have requested a thorough investigation into the matter.

The theft has raised serious concerns about the security of the Metro infrastructure, especially given that the cables were stolen from a bridge, suggesting that the perpetrators scaled the structure and used sharp tools to sever the cables.

Police have begun an investigation and are scanning CCTV footage from the area. No arrests have been made at the time of filing this report. Metro services on the affected stretch have since resumed after emergency repairs were carried out.

The GMRC has also called for a review of security protocols across the network to prevent such incidents in the future.