The rail routes to and from Leeds set to benefit from major train Wi-Fi boost
It’s reported that £57m of funding will be used to upgrade the services
Trains travelling to and from Leeds are due to be upgraded with new WiFi technology to allow passengers to browse the internet while travelling.
LNER and TransPennine trains are due to be the first services to be equipped with upgraded WiFi under government plans to overhaul the system as the rail network is brought back into public control.
More than 1,400 trains across the UK will be upgraded with the new technology to allow passengers to stream videos, download files and join video calls, The i Paper has reported.
LNER services connect Leeds passengers with London, Scotland and major cities in between, while the TransPennine routes cover the North of England and up to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
It’s reported that the technology will be rolled out across nationalised main line services using funding worth £57m and will be officially announced in the summer.
The new technology will allow trains to connect to low-earth satellites. Ministers say that this will provide a faster and more reliable service than the mobile networks currently powering on-board Wi-Fi.
Another scheme, “Project Reach”, will involve new line-side, fibre-optic cables fitted to more than 70 tunnels and areas without mobile signal to prevent blackout spots.
The upgrade is scheduled to be announced as the country’s rail network transitions to Great British Railways, which will see the operation of train lines in the UK transferred back into public control as contracts with firms are not renewed.
The i Paper reports that Wi-Fi will remain free to use and will not affect ticket prices.
The Government aims to improve Wi-Fi availability from between 50 to 60 per cent to at least 90 per cent, and prove more effective than the current system of relying on 4G and 5G signal provided by local mobile network operators’ masts.
Wi-Fi technology is 10 to 15 years old and has not been upgraded. The current set-up means that if the external mobile signal is poor because the mobile operator’s mast is far from the railway line, the overall Wi-Fi service will be poor or, in rural areas, non-existent.
Using satellites would help address the fact that mobile signals can drop out due to overwhelming demand on some telecoms masts, particularly during rush hour.