THIEVES as young as 12 are causing hours of train delay misery in the region by stealing cables.

Network Rail said yesterday cable theft in the North East has cost almost £1.5m since 2007, while the operator has spent £2m nationally on compensation. It was also revealed in the same period passengers were subjected to a total of 5,384 hours of frustrating delays.

Richard Lungmuss, route director for Network Rail, added cable theft is on the increase but they would combat it with deterrents like better surveillance.

Most culprits are said to be opportunistic thieves feeding a drug or alcohol habit but others were organised and brought heavy duty equipment.

Stations at the Metrocentre and Pelaw in Gateshead, Prudhoe, in Northumberland, Darlington and Bishop Auckland in County Durham, and Hartlepool in Cleveland are worst-hit by the problems.

The railway is designed to be failsafe so trains are brought to a halt as soon as a cut is detected.

In some cases it can also result in power loss to passenger information systems. In one case, people were stranded at Billingham, in Stockton, for two hours unaware their service had been cancelled.