The Malaysian government is stepping up efforts to combat widespread theft of railway cables that has severely disrupted train operations, particularly in northern Malaysia. Transport Minister Anthony Loke said cable theft is not just ordinary theft but a serious national and state security issue that threatens public safety and disrupts services [1, 2, 3, 4].
Loke stressed, "It cannot be seen as normal theft cases because they disrupt our services and can even affect public safety. This is a national security and state security issue because the theft of these cables has caused significant disruptions to our services and poses a danger to the public" [3].
The Transport Ministry has engaged with the Home Ministry to push for tougher laws and stricter legal action against cable thieves. Loke said, "The Home Ministry must strengthen existing laws to deter those who threaten the safety of the country's public transport network" and noted, "several improvements are needed to existing acts and laws to ensure stricter action against cable thieves" [1, 5, 2, 3, 4].
The length of Malaysia's railway network, approximately 1,000 km, presents challenges in monitoring and preventing theft. Loke acknowledged the difficulty, stating, "It is indeed difficult to monitor every kilometre of the track, especially in remote areas that are easily accessible to irresponsible parties" [1, 2, 3, 4].
To boost protection, the Ministry is looking at surveillance and monitoring technologies, including studying solutions from other countries facing similar cable theft problems. Loke said, "There are countries that may already have better solutions. We are trying to see what solutions have been implemented by other countries" [1, 2, 3, 4].
On May 29, 2026, an LRT train derailed near Chan Sow Lin station, causing service disruption. The Transport Ministry is currently conducting repair work on the damaged tracks [5, 2].
Minister Loke spoke at separate press conferences on May 30 in Padang Besar and Kuala Lumpur to highlight ongoing efforts to tackle cable theft through legislative and technological means [1, 5, 2, 3, 4].
