News

US MidWest to get WiFi on Trains

(28 Jul 2022, BWCS Staff)
US train giant Amtrak has signed up Icomera to provide on-board WiFi for its Midwest services. The deal means that the Swedish/UK connectivity supplier will be responsible for adding passenger Internet services to Amtrak’s new fleet in the states of Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Icomera will install, maintain, and monitor on-board mobile Internet services for 88 new Siemens “Venture” single-level passenger cars, which are jointly owned by the Midwest states and will be operated and contracted by Amtrak. The project marks an expansion of the relationship......

New York Signs US$600 Million Deal to Put Mobile in Subway Tunnels

(26 Jul 2022, BWCS Staff)
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City has announced plans to roll out mobile cellular services across all its subway tunnels. BAI-backed, Transit Wireless, which has been working with the MTA for 15 years, has been signed up for the estimated US$600 million build.   Transit Wireless has already installed WiFi at 273 New York Subway stations and has also supplied mobile connectivity on the city’s L-Line looping under the East River. The MTA said the build out may take up to ten years and that it plans to add free WiFi connections at all above-ground......

LNER Trialing On-Board Edgecasting TV Service to Free up WiFi

(25 Jul 2022, BWCS Staff)
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is to trial a system that will enable passengers to stream video content to their devices without straining the train’s WiFi service. The UK train operator is partnering with Netskrt to offer streamed shows form ITV Hub. The trial service is currently available on three electric Azuma trains running up and down the main line between the Scottish Capital and London. According to LNER, the service means passengers will be able to stream over 6,000 episodes in ultra-high definition from ITV Hub “without eating into personal data or the......

RailTel Adds Content to Telecoms Service Portfolio

(13 Jul 2022, BWCS Staff)
RailTel, the privatised technology company once part of Indian Railways, is to launch a raft of new video content to some of its new cable customers. Famous for adding, and operating, fast, free WiFi at over 6,100 stations, RailTel also has a fixed line user base under its RailWire brand. These customers will now be offered a total of 13 TV and film platforms. The details regarding pricing and availability of the service have not yet been made public, nor is it yet clear if the services will later become available to rail passengers. RailWire operates in over 6,000 mainly rural......

All Aboard with BAI to Bring Connectivity to the London Tube

(08 Jul 2022, BWCS Staff)
The last of the UK’s four major mobile companies, Vodafone and O2, have signed a deal with neutral host company BAI Communications, to allow them to offer 4G and 5G connectivity to their customers across the tunnels and stations of the London Tube. Previously, rival operators BT (EE) and Three UK were the only ones to reach an agreement with BAI. The pair successfully negotiated contracts with the infrastructure provider and signed them back in December 2021. In June last year, the Australian-based BAI won the 20-year concession to install fibre links and wireless connections......

SpaceX Gets Green Light to Target WiFi on Trains

(04 Jul 2022, BWCS Staff)
Elon Musk’s satellite-delivered internet service, SpaceX, has been cleared in the US to enter the WiFi on Trains market. The Federal Communications Commission gave the go-ahead just prior to Independence Day in America. Musk’s company has long harboured ambitions to target trains and other vehicles with on-board WiFi services. In April of this year, SpaceX signed its first deal to provide in-flight WiFi supplied by the Starlink satellite network and the company is competing to provide high-speed internet to other commercial passenger services. In the authorisation letter, the......

Using Fast and Reliable WiFi to Persuade Passengers onto Trains …

(21 Jun 2022, BWCS Staff)
If you want to lure young people onto trains – boost the WiFi. That is one of the many messages highlighted in a recent series of polls commissioned and collated by Evo-Rail, a subsidiary of First Group and a supplier of 5G mm-wave systems to the rail industry.  Admittedly, Evo-Rail has a clear vested interest in encouraging the rail industry to improve train to shore connectivity and on-board WiFi. All the same, an impressive number of travellers and would-be train passengers responding to the survey, said that they would be more likely to catch a train in the UK (on a......

Huge Trackside Network Deal Edges Closer …

(13 Jun 2022, BWCS Staff)
A major investment in the UK’s trackside wireless and cable networks has moved a significant step closer. According to recent press reports, two large investment groups have each been cleared to bid to partner Network Rail in its £1 billion drive to upgrade around 16,000km of trackside cable network and add new wireless masts.    The two groups are Virgin Media (bidding with Nokia and Jacobs) and Neos Networks (bidding alongside Cellnex). The winning bidder will be expected to upgrade the trackside infrastructure and build around 250 new mobile masts to help tackle 5G......

Pakistan Railways Relaunches Push for Train WiFi

(08 Jun 2022, BWCS Staff)
The stalled project to put WiFi on trains in Pakistan appears to be back on track. Speaking at a major review of development projects at Pakistan Railways earlier this week, Railways and Aviation Minister, Khawaja Saad Rafique, directed that Free WiFi should be installed in all economy class carriages. He was speaking in response to rising fuel prices and a drive to lure more passengers onto trains. The state-owned transport giant, which carries some 70 million passengers annually, has also outlined plans to install fast, free WiFi at every “divisional level” railway station.......