Sound Transit still can’t prevent copper wire thefts that stop service

By Mike Lindblom | Seattle Times (TNS)

SEATTLE — Once again, Sound Transit's new light rail track extension to Federal Way has been fertile territory for copper wire thieves, who caused service to be halted for six hours Friday.

The chronic disruptions are a drag on the regional system's dependability, before the March 28 opening of the Bellevue-to-Seattle segment across Lake Washington, which should increase light rail's 110,000 average daily ridership. And a few weeks later, international visitors will arrive for six World Cup soccer matches in June and July, when the prestige of mayors, council members and business barons is on the line.

Friday's incident, which required bus shuttles until just before 11 a.m., comes in the wake of a short outage there early Feb. 11, the day of the Seahawks Super Bowl parade, and others in the 8-mile, $3.2 billion Federal Way segment, since it opened Dec. 6. Most of the corridor runs next to Interstate 5.

The agency declined an interview request Friday about what steps it's taking or will try to combat wire theft, but issued a statement saying it continues to add cameras and increase monitoring of its 1 Line around Federal Way.

Some recent incidents have been extremely brazen, including tampering with wires while trains are in service," the statement revealed. Police have an "open investigation" in one of the Federal Way cases, said transit spokesperson Amy Enbysk.

"Safety is our top priority, and we are committed to protecting our riders and transit infrastructure," the statement concluded.

Copper wire theft has plagued transit across the U.S., including light rail networks in Los Angeles, Portland and Denver, which have modified their equipment to make stealing harder.

Roads are also targets, among them the West Seattle Bridge, where streetlights were out for a few weeks in September, and at least 30 incidents on Washington state freeways in early 2025.

And utilities in Washington have called wire theft a crisis, with Lumen alone reporting more than 350 incidents last year, the company's highest count in any state.

After copper thefts on the Eastside's 2 Line last June, Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine responded by pledging "increased security along the alignment, including the use of technology." He said he would also make sure "future extensions are built with a greater security in mind," in response to local and international incidents, such as Spanish high-speed rail disruptions and Eurostar outages between London, Paris and Brussels.

A few times in October, a Sound Transit alarm tripped off in a residential area near Marymoor Park, blaring "Intruder! Go Back!" for hours until technicians shut it off.

Constantine intends to give the transit board a briefing soon about how the agency is dealing with wire theft, Enbysk said.

Sound Transit hasn't reported its findings yet from an inspection closure on Feb. 7 between Angle Lake and Federal Way Downtown stations, to check for power-system problems, including damage by thieves.

Taxpayers and train riders don't necessarily know when wires are stolen, because emailed rider alerts provide generic explanations like a "signal issue" or "power issues."

Copper wires not only convey electricity to run the trains, but are a key part of signals and also safely direct the flow of stray current. People have stolen them for over a decade from Seattle-area infrastructure.

Copper prices have soared in recent months to near $6 a pound in global markets, and around $4 locally for high-quality wire.

The American Public Transportation Association calls theft a growing U.S. problem and held seminars about prevention tactics: "Rail systems use a high amount of copper, and theft is a constant threat to both the critical infrastructure that keeps passengers safe, as well as the financial burden it places on organizations to warehouse specialty cables and replace them when thefts do occur," the group's website says.

Other cities have tried several ways to protect their wire:

Portland TriMet staffers invented a "burrito-type structure" in which copper wires are sandwiched between layers of foam, gravel and wire mesh on each side, making it difficult for thieves to find and penetrate. At $54 per foot, these are cheaper than some other methods and can be installed at a rate of 12 feet per hour, without blocking light rail service. "The burrito method is already sparking interest from other transit systems," APTA says.

TriMet reported zero thefts in the modified areas last year, after experiencing 30 thefts over the past four years citywide, which typically cost $10,000 each to rapidly repair.

Denver set up a public tips hotline in response to spikes in wire theft in 2022 and 2024, including five cases in one July week, across its 120-mile system. Wires have been embedded in track ties or coated in grease to reduce their resale value.

LA Metro encased copper wires in concrete, with a goal of completely retrofitting its light rail network, after 60 thefts were reported in 2022, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Just this week, Los Angeles hired a contractor on its landmark Sixth Street Bridge to relight the colorful crossing with tamper-proof wires before the 2028 Olympic Games — the two-year timeline indicative of how difficult that will be. The stolen copper was worth $11,000, but repairs could exceed $2.5 million, CBS reported. In the meantime, people have exploited the darkness to hold fireworks displays, gaze at the skyline, illegally climb the 10 concrete arches or spin doughnuts in cars.

L.A.'s famous Wilshire Boulevard went dark last month for a mile.

Washington state Rep. Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline, proposed a bill clamping down on wire theft by requiring scrap-metal dealers to photograph wires they buy, forbidding cash payments, requiring identification, reporting stolen goods to the Washington State Patrol and creating a "critical infrastructure crime reduction unit in the attorney general's office. House Bill 2213 failed to advance in the session that ends in mid-March.

_________

© 2026 The Seattle Times

Visit www.seattletimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Daily News Briefing