Rodent chews through supply cable.

It is well known that rodents, especially martens, eat whatever they can find during the cold season. But a supply cable? That was certainly something new for cablex. We do not know whether the damage was caused by a marten or another rodent. But whatever animal it was knocked out 269 connections and made several people break into a sweat within a very short time. The Simplon Pass road even had to be closed on one side to repair the fault. First of all, however, one thing has to be said: Without the team’s unique spirit and commendable commitment, the damage could not have been repaired so quickly.

The damage was caused to an underground supply cable leading to the Swisscom headquarters. If this is damaged, all other cables connected to the supply cable will also no longer function. For this reason, the entire supply cable had to be dug up and replaced with a new one. In total, more than 50 shafts were opened and seven kilometres of cable were replaced. So that, along with the difficult local conditions of cold and snow, was one of the reasons why the fault repair extended over one and a half days.

Difficult situations always have an advantage: People stick together and help each other. This was certainly demonstrated by this rodent damage incident in the Simplon region. Thanks to the great cooperation between the cablex divisions Wireline Construction, Field Services and Wireline Rollout, the operation was carried out quickly and efficiently. Within a very short time, employees from all regions of Switzerland were alerted and ordered to report to the Simplon Pass. On-site, our measurement technician Michael Brenner (FS-W-4) took over the management and coordination of the employees.

A huge thank you goes out to all those involved for their spontaneity and willingness!