SELECTAMARK’
Rhine Group has been awarded the contract by Dutch rail company ProRail BV to combat trackside metal theft. The increased risk of stealing, transporting and handling SelectaDNA-marked copper and other metals is expected to deter thieves and have a significant impact on the number of incidents.
Driven by continuing global demand for metals such as copper, the Netherlands is among many countries to struggle with the problem of trackside metal theft, which not only disrupts rail services but also causes substantial damage to signaling equipment, posing serious danger to passengers.
Under the new agreement, SelectaDNA forensic marking technology will be used by ProRail to reduce the number of thefts of metal rail equipment such as copper cable.
SelectaDNA is a proven, highly successful crime deterrent strategy and is used by an increasing number of Police forces, residential home owners, businesses, retail outlets, local governments, schools and hospitals in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and The Netherlands. Property marking schemes using SelectaDNA have also been implemented in Germany by Rhine Group’s SDNA Forensische Markierungstechnolgie GmbH, where the first projects have just started in Bremen and Bremerhaven.
ProRail will be deploying SelectaDNA’s superior technology to mark trackside metals with the product’s unique DNA signature, which is highly resistant to sunlight, withstands temperatures of up to 1,000°C and can be identified and analyzed on the spot.
The unique chemical composition of the marking can be identified with a portable DNA scanner. The DNA marking is immediately visible under ultraviolet (UV) light and contains metal microdots with an engraved coding that can be analyzed with a small USB-microscope.
This technology provides Police with robust and immediate forensic proof of where stolen metal has come from, thus enabling them to prosecute criminals using an indisputable chain of evidence.
The detection and analysis technology can also be made available to scrap metal dealers so they can check for markings on metal being offered to them.
Donald van der Laan, General Manager of Rhine Group said: “When we started to look at the problem of copper theft in 2008 it became obvious to us that solutions that were available at the time had several serious flaws.
“Most importantly, if the presence of a marking on a piece of metal could only be determined under UV light, scrap dealers could be misguided into believing that material that does not ‘light up’ under UV is not stolen - even if it was offered to them by dubious sources.”
Mr van der Laan continued: “Therefore, we set out with our partners to develop smart marking technologies that overcome these flaws, providing a broader toolset to Police and a much more serious deterrent to criminals.”
