41% of UK adults would be more likely to consider taking the train over other forms of transport if train companies provided fast, reliable on-board WiFi, according to a survey by evo-rail.
And that figure rises to 64% for those aged 16-24 and 59% for those aged 25-34.
It’s clear that proper working internet on trains is more than a nice-to-have for many people. And it’s easy to see why.
Better connectivity opens up so many options to make the most of what, right now, is essentially downtime as far as using the internet is concerned.
If connectivity is reliable, then you can work reliably. You know you can keep in touch with people. And it could add more value to the railways as well, with passengers happy to pay a premium for something like choosing a seat, for example, if they know they’ll be able to use their laptop.
For some time now we’ve been working to bring better connectivity to a 30-kilometre section of railway track between Bicester and Bletchley, with the intention of solving part of this challenge.
Our aim is to demonstrate how the most advanced 5G technology can give passengers fast, reliable connectivity that improves their productivity and overall travel experience.
There are three key things we need to achieve in order to make that happen:
- Get connectivity to the train
- Put connectivity on the train
- Agree who pays for it all
Let’s go into each of those in a bit more detail, exploring what we’ve already done in each of these areas and why.
1. Get connectivity to the train
Affordability was always a key focus of the project, but with that came the added challenge of balancing quality and price.
Satellite broadband is a low-cost option, for example, but with that comes less bandwidth, longer latency and lower reliability. And when you’re trying to create a great connectivity experience on trains, you may need to do better than that.
On the much higher end you’ve got millimetre-wave, which gives you much better connectivity and speed. But for that you need antennas closer to the track and to deploy more of them. And all that extra infrastructure soon makes things expensive.
Our procurement found that the best value solution for our stretch of line was something in the middle – a network in the 3.8 GHz 5G spectrum band that gives us the right balance of cost and capacity while also being the best option for our trackside neighbours.
2. Put connectivity on the train
Next comes the question of how to get connectivity onto the train and working in the way that we need it to.
One option is to beam connectivity at the train through the window. But as anyone who’s tried to get a 4G or 5G signal on a train can tell you, it’s not always consistent, to put it mildly.
The most effective option we’ve found is to use antennas outside of the carriage. It’s higher up, directly connected to the train’s technology, and has a better chance of capturing connectivity and passing it down into the carriages.
This helps, but is still limited by whatever network capacity is available on the railway, which in rural areas can be extremely limited.
The real benefit of this approach comes when you combine the private 5G network, which has dedicated capacity with the existing 4G and 5G. This ensures there is always a good signal and enough capacity.
We can then use the train’s existing WiFi solution (or other methods) to get that connectivity to people’s devices, completing the connection to the user.
3. Agree who pays for it all
This is the trickiest question to answer and it’s often a cause for debate.
There are a number of parties who benefit from better on-train connectivity, all of which, it could be argued, could have some responsibility to pay towards it:
- The passengers who get to use the connectivity
- The train operator who the passenger is paying
- People in the local area, like farmers, who might also benefit
- Network operators and other infrastructure providers
- Society as a whole, represented by the taxpayer
Our view is that the most likely, and probably the best and fairest way to fund it is through a combination of all the above.
To do that we need to be able to demonstrate the specific benefits to each of those stakeholders – if passengers had a guarantee that the WiFi would actually work, for example, they might be persuaded to pay a premium for it.
Through our project, we’re getting a clear picture of the costs. Then we can position those costs against the benefits, prove the value of investing to each of the stakeholders and then collect a fair contribution from all of them based on that information.
What’s next?
Looking ahead, we’ll be running tests to check our solution works at high speeds, handing off connectivity between different antennas and networks without it dropping out.
After that, we’ll be looking to get the first passenger trains (with great WiFi that actually works) running on the newly reopened stretch of the East West line by the end of the year.
And we’ll be aiming over time to extend and densify the network to cover more of the East West Rail line to increase coverage, and potentially allow us to replicate our solution on other railways.
Is this the only answer to better connectivity on trains?
No.
But it’s one solution, and a good solution well matched. And we believe it could offer a genuine alternative to the dreadful experience people have to put up with today.
So there’s only one question left to ask: who will be on the first passenger services on the new line to try its high speed connectivity?
Want to know more about the Bicester to Bletchley 5G Rail Corridor?