‘Sorry, I’m on a train at the moment so the call might just cut out.’
It’s a familiar start to a phone conversation for rail passengers up and down the UK.
But a massive upgrade to connectivity on British tracks announced today could spell the end of awkward chats that ultimately need to wait until you’ve reached your destination.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told Metro the move would ‘bring the experience of rail travel in the UK into the 21st century’.
She said: ‘I think we’ve all been there, haven’t we? It’s so frustrating to be sat on a train with your phone or your iPad, dropping out every time you go through a tunnel, or one of those railway cuttings.
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‘And I think we need to get on and tackle this problem with mobile connectivity, black spots on the trains.’
The plans will mean ultra-fast fibre optic cable is deployed across 1,000km of the East Coast Main Line, parts of the West Coast Main Line and the Great Western Main Line.
Ultimately, that network could stretch across 5,000km of railway, according to the Department for Transport.
A total of 57 tunnels will also get access to signal, including the 4km Chipping Sodbury tunnel near Bristol.
Provider Freshwave will be behind improvements to mobile signal on the railway and 4G and 5G connectivity in stations as well as in tunnels, while Neos Networks will be responsible for the fibre optic cable rollout.
Alexander said: ‘One of the things that people talk to me about a lot is that decent mobile connectivity on the train, if they’re working, would massively improve their productivity, and would clearly be good for the economy.
‘But it also improves leisure experience, doesn’t it? If families are having days out, kids are watching favorite TV shows or whatever on their phone, it improves the experience all round.’
The rollout is currently expected to begin next year and be completed by 2028.
Alexander’s announcement comes days after another boost for notoriously terribly train WiFi was included in the government’s industrial strategy plans.
They included a pledge of £41 million towards introducing low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity for all mainline trains, which would ‘significantly
improve both the availability and internet connection speeds for WiFi-connected passengers’.
The Transport Secretary also recently revealed the massively over-budget HS2 rail project would be delayed yet again, with the first trains now not expected to run until after 2033.
She said the same would not happen again for the big infrastructure changes she has announced.
Alexander said: ‘I think the lesson that we’ve learned from HS2 is that you need to have good people working in the organisation that is letting the contract, to start off with the appropriate skills, the appropriate technical understanding, commercial acumen.
‘And I think that what we’ve got in Network Rail to manage this project, and we’ll constantly keep it under review, is the right step for people to ensure that over the next couple of years we can get this first phase properly rolled out, and people can start to enjoy better quality journeys.’
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