The Government has announced a £200k investment hoping to improve mobile connectivity whilst on trains.
The end of railway internet blackouts and more productive journeys thanks to better WiFi could be on the way for thousands of rail passengers, as the government invests £200,000 to launch research into developing an innovative prototype to improve mobile connectivity, the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced today (23/7).
With over a third of the 11,000 miles of Great Britain’s railways electrified using Overhead Line Equipment (OLE), research funded by the Department for Transport has found that it is possible to attach communications antennas to them, improving connectivity for passengers as well as reducing the need to build additional track-side masts, therefore cutting costs.
The Mott MacDonald report, published today, found there is significant potential to utilize these existing structures to mount equipment, a technique which is increasingly being used in countries such as Austria to address railway mobile connectivity challenges.
Telecom operators are now being urged to come forward and develop suitable equipment for the next phase of the trial, which will test how antennas can be safely fixed onto OLE in a live railway environment with findings expected to be published by March 2021.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “It is just not good enough that passenger’s mobile connectivity experience is still poor, blighting our efforts to work, shop and communicate on everyday journeys.
“By harnessing innovation and updating existing infrastructure, we can build the railway of tomorrow and find affordable solutions to improve travel for passengers. I urge telecom operators to match our ambition, and we can commit to working closely together to design equipment and move forward in the next stage of this exciting trial.”
Today’s news comes as Ofcom is set to publish on Monday updated advice on suitable bands for trackside WiFi connectivity, supporting Government efforts to improve connectivity on the railway.
It also coincides with further research commissioned by the Department, published today by Transport Focus, which shows that rail passenger’s mobile connectivity experience is still poor. The Transport User Panel Survey found the level of satisfaction with connectivity on trains is generally low, while the expectation of being connected is high.
The Department is now working with Network Rail’s Rail Innovation & Development Centres to identify a suitable OLE to conduct the trial by March 2021 and welcomes the opportunity to work collaboratively with telecom providers and participate in testing different prototype antennas.
