A £1,000 reward is being offered to anyone with information on cable thefts from a train line near Twickenham station, which have caused severe delays to train schedules.

Trains between London Waterloo and Reading and London Waterloo and Wimbledon have been affected, with delays since 6.30am today.

British Transport Police (BTP) is appealing for witnesses after 60 metres of cable was stolen in the early hours of this morning. BTP attended the scene at 6.20am, with engineers from Network Rail, to investigate.

Officers are currently making inquiries into the incident and would particularly like to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time, or may have seen any suspicious activity.

Detective Inspector Paul Langley said: “What thieves don’t realise is that they are working on live cable, carrying up to 25,000 volts, which can cause extensive burns.

"By attempting to steal it they are seriously putting their lives at risk.”

Crimestoppers, in partnership with Network Rail, is offering the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any cable thieves.

Network Rail Wessex route managing director Richard O’Brien said: "Whoever committed this crime has shown complete disregard for the travelling public and we will assist British Transport Police to see that the culprits are caught.

"In the meantime our engineers are working to restore normal service, which we hope will be in time for people’s journeys home this evening.

“Working with BTP and South West Trains, we’re doing all we can to protect the network from thieves. To an extent our actions can help us manage the crimes but, despite our efforts, they continue to increase. We believe that the only way to significantly reduce metal crime is to take away the illegal market and that more robust legislation and police powers are needed to achieve that.”

A Network Rail spokesman said the new cable had been fitted, but a number of safety tests still needed to be carried out.

In the meantime, he said, there would be a slower service, with fewer trains running, but a normal service should resume by 4pm.

Anyone with information can call British Transport Police on 0800 405040 quoting reference 34 of 12/12/2011. Or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

For further information on the train service along this line, visit journeycheck.southwesttrains.co.uk.