The government has fired the starting gun on an ambitious plan that could see the UK鈥檚聽train passengers benefit from a dramatic improvement in onboard mobile and Wi-Fi connections.
The rapid growth of mobile data requirements and the use of smartphones and tablets now means that consumers expect high quality, reliable connectivity everywhere.
As part of its聽5G strategy聽the government has committed to improving coverage where people live, work and travel, including on trains.
Minimum standards for mobile connectivity on new franchises already being introduced, but the new proposals set out how, working with industry, connectivity for passengers on all mainline routes could be dramatically improved by 2025.
Each train could get speeds of around 1 Gigabit Per Second (Gbps). This would future-proof the connectivity and in practice could allow several hundred passengers to stream uninterrupted video content at the same time.
Minister for Digital Matt Hancock said: 鈥淲e want people to be able to get connected where they live, work and travel.
鈥淭his means improving connections on Britain鈥檚 railways now and making sure they are fit for the future.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a long way to travel but our destination is world-class signal for passengers.
鈥淭his will not only make journeys more enjoyable and productive, but will help improve the operation and safety of the railway and deliver economic benefits for the whole of the UK.鈥�
Bruce Williamson from Railfuture said: 鈥淲i-fi has moved from being an optional extra to something essential for the 21st century rail passenger, so we welcome any improvements to capacity and coverage.
鈥淚t should become absolutely standard for all trains on the British railway network to have seamless connectivity, as it鈥檚 essential for attracting the smartphone connected generation to rail, as well as the business traveller working on the move.
鈥淰ery soon, trains without Wi-Fi will become unthinkable and rail passengers will look forward to the day when the phone doesn鈥檛 cut out in tunnels.鈥�
Rail passenger connectivity is largely delivered through mobile phone networks operating from remote (non-trackside) masts, meaning coverage is patchy and in many places, non-existent.
To deliver the improvements, upgraded trackside infrastructure could be required for reliable connectivity in areas of high passenger demand and in hard-to-reach areas such as tunnels.
Delivering this will involve laying fibre along the tracks, mounting wireless devices on masts (and other trackside infrastructure) to transmit the signal to the train and providing power supplies to these masts.
To help the government understand some of the technical and practical deployment challenges of trackside infrastructure, work has already begun on a trial on the Trans Pennine route between Manchester and York in partnership with Network Rail.
This will help聽show how to聽make use of existing trackside infrastructure and utilise Network Rail assets, as well as testing suitable track-to-train radio systems to deliver services to passengers under real-life conditions.
This pilot is part of the government鈥檚 拢31 billion National Productivity Investment Fund, which has already earmarked 拢1bn specifically for improving Britain鈥檚 digital infrastructure.