MORE than R2-million worth of copper cables and metal has been stolen from the Forest Hill train depot in Port Elizabeth over the past month.

Police spokesman Captain Stanley Jarvis said the metal and copper was stripped from an electrical sub-station based at the Humerail Transnet Depot.

"According to the supervisor at Transnet, he had gone down to the substation for his monthly inspection when he arrived he found one of the windows shattered and burglar bars bent backwards," said Jarvis.

"The electricity transformer in the depot was totally stripped of all its wires and other metal inside the depot was stolen."

Jarvis said the estimated value of stolen items was about R2-million.

According to the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, copper theft in July cost businesses around the country an estimated R19.7-million.

This marks an increase from June when theft cost business about R17.9-million.

This theft comes after Transport Minister Ben Martins said last month that parastatals, like Telkom, Eskom, Transnet, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and Metrorail, lost R3.12-billion to copper theft between April 2006 and December 2011.

Transnet alone has lost more than R850-million between 2006-7 and January 2012.