Why Wi-Fi?
Originally written as a twitter thread. Intended as a thought piece and all views my own.

Why Wi-Fi?

1/Now this is public I can comment on this disappointing story.?Train WiFi is often derided but it’s important area for the industry and passengers.?Thread on why WiFi matters, why this proposal doesn’t make sense, and exciting things on the horizon for train connectivity

2/Rail has seen incredible passenger growth since privatisation– but I suspect much of this has been driven by mobile phones not by anything rail has done.?Previously “dead time” becoming useful time on your laptop or iphone has been a massive advantage for rail over other modes

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3/I’ve written about the importance of train entertainment before, and WiFi is central to this now and in the future. Sadly rail has often viewed WiFi as an add-on rather than part of the core offer, leading to silly cost saving ideas like this to get rid

4/pax care more about WiFi than about toilets, and operationally WiFi/data connectivity is just as critical as toilets.?The gov wouldn’t suggest removing toilets from long dist. trains, and no one would try to “monetise” toilets with log-ins etc. its part of the core service!

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5/Just on the practicalities, there is minimal savings to be had by getting rid of WiFi.?Modern trains are intelligent connected vehicles.?They need to receive and send significant amounts of data in real time – CCTV feeds etc. and that use the same kit as for the pax WiFi!

6/So getting rid of passenger WiFi wouldn’t save any hardware costs, and many train fleets have flat rate data sim cards – so even reducing the amount of data used wouldn’t make much difference, you’d still spend the same transmitting your mission critical operational data

7/Some argue WiFi doesn’t matter anymore when you can use mobile hotspot instead, so even tiny saving is worth it. However this argument has been made before –WiFi vs mobile tends to seesaw and WiFi will catch up with 5g like it did with 4g before, and lots of pax are using WiFi!

8/You can see this from the fact that open access operators like Lumo , with no government subsidy, see train WiFi as a core part of their business, not a cost to be saved. Private companies like FirstGroup plc are investing in more WiFi not less!

9/If there is no real savings to be gotten from removing WiFi then the better approach for getting value for money is to make train WiFi better!?There is untapped pax demand if we can improve train WiFi so you can game/stream/work as easily as you would on your home WiFi

10/However train connectivity is hard!?Getting sufficient data to the equivalent of a medium village’s demand hurtling down a narrow track in middle of nowhere at 125mph ain’t easy, a problem shared with UK motorways which also have very poor mobile signal

11/Currently train WiFi is provided via mobile networks – so the signal you see on your phone is the same the WiFi is using.?The WiFi has some advantages with better rooftop antennas and using multiple network sim cards but typically if your phone loses signal the WiFi will too

12/Improving this signal via improved mobile coverage is difficult – it is very expensive to build cell towers to cover the peak demand of a full train, that will only be in use for a fraction of the time.?However finally alternative solutions are on the horizon!

13/First has invested in Evo-Rail which installs it own network of mmwave 5g cheaply down the track. You can try it for yourself on the isle of wight and it's coming to first South Western Railway route this year. Will be a gamechanger –stream to your hearts content!

14/In USA Brightline Trains has partnered with SpaceX to provide satellite WiFi to trains. Starlink has finally got the costs low enough/data high enough to make this viable (was previously tried by GNER back in the day) and a UK project is working on similar

15/The UK is also well placed to improve train WiFi as we already have much of the infra required with massively underused fibre optic cables installed down much of the network. Network Rail are finally looking at using this asset better via project REACH

16/All the above technical backhaul solutions are far easier to provide over WiFi

Yes it brings with it the pain of “logging in” vs mobile but rail can improve here too -new seamless login tech exists like OpenRoaming ( Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) could add value by standardising)

17/I expect once the DfT and Treasury realise all of the above, they’ll quietly shelve the idea.?WiFi is important to passengers, and even in “constrained” financial times we still need to be focused on passengers and attracting more of them to rail!

Jonathan Brown

Sustainable Transport Technology Expert

1 年

Couldn't agree more James! It is considered a fundamental hygiene factor now, which is most likely why the selection of respondents the data is based upon probably don’t rank too highly. Likewise, it will of course completely depend on which trains and where – if they just don’t run, it’s not going to be top of the list (getting the trains running will be). Getting rid of wifi would be a disastrous move from many standpoints – discouraging people back onto rail that is still fighting back from COVID, pushing many back into less sustainable forms of transport and severely impacting many less advantages sectors of society that don’t have access to endless mobile data (for which reception on trains is notoriously poor in many cases anyway). Those vulnerable, and many other people who rely on the wifi for information, and real-time travel updates, security and communication will be pushed into uncomfortable positions and turn back away from rail. What a backward step this would be for the industry

回复
Giulia Lorenzini

Innovation & Research funding expert | Transport | Bridging the gap between industry and academia | Supporting SMEs

1 年

I try to use it, but 9 out of 10 times it doesn’t work!!

Terry Gordon

Rolling Stock Fleet Consultant

1 年

The line side connectivity is the real issue , the cost per km is ludicrously expensive, if that was solved and they’ve had enough ?time to do so. Wifi would be utilised far more than it’s current capacity?

Rob Mansfield

Helping people to understand their pensions, investments, mortgages and protection insurance. Independent Financial Advisor based in Hildenborough, Kent.

1 年

I use the train wifi. On Southeastern we went through a lot of pain of trains being short formed and cancelled as they were in the depots having wifi installed. I cannot see how this can change anything in railway economic terms. It just seems to be a spiteful move from a Government that seems to have no plan for how to run a railway. If this is their best idea for saving costs then the industry is lost.

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