EUROPE: Following successful trials on the UK’s Island Line, FirstGroup’s railway telecoms company Evo-rail has worked with Comsa to install its Rail-5G on-train connectivity technology on the Figueres - Perpignan high speed line between Spain and France.
Evo-rail said the mmWave technology which uses trackside antenna mounted on electrification masts was deployed in weeks rather than potentially months using other approaches.
The bi-directional antennas communicate with similar antennas fitted to the front and rear of the train. This provides two independent links to the train most of the time, ensuring 100% coverage and capacity of more than 1Gb/sec for the onboard wi-fi at a ‘fraction of the cost’ of using mobile data.
UK commuter operator South Western Railway is also deploying the technology, with more than 200 trains ready to use it when it launches later this year.
