By Tim Ferguson, 29 April 2009 16:28
NEWS
Virgin Trains has completed the rollout of wi-fi on its Pendolino trains operating between London and Scotland, more than a year later than originally planned.
When the project was announced back in September 2006, Virgin Trains set the completion date for the end of 2007.
However, the deployment date slipped after initial trials didn't match up to Virgin's coverage and reliability requirements.
A Virgin Trains spokeswoman told silicon.com: "The project became more complicated because we wanted a tailored solution, a bespoke solution, because we want a very long term future for this and we needed something that was ultimately a bit more sophisticated than what we originally thought."
In addition, the maintenance cycle for the trains has meant that it's only now that all 52 Pendolino trains have been able to be fitted with the tech. The service will be extended to 21 Super Voyager trains by mid-summer.
Graeme Lowdon, CEO of Nomad Digital, the network company responsible for the rollout, said: "It's not economically possible to take trains out of service to install communication equipment on them, so you effectively piggyback into existing maintenance regimesÂ… and in deploying a project like this you have to fit in with that programme."
Virgin Trains did not want to provide a wi-fi service on some trains before the entire fleet was able to support it, and so it was decided to wait until all Pendolino trains had the appropriate wi-fi tech fitted before officially launching the service.
Lowdon said: "A lot of these Pendolinos have been running around with this equipment on for a very long time but we had to wait until the entire fleet was installed and then launch."
First class passengers can use the service for free, while other passengers can buy HotSpot passes via their wireless device or use the service on an unlimited basis if they are T-Mobile mobile broadband customers.
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1. karen challinor
not that you'll be able to physically use the service as it's highly likely you'll either be standing or someone will be sat on the table due to the fact that these long distance trains are usually two carriages shorter than those run by other operators
I was once shouted at by a guard at York station who told me I shouldn't try to get on at carriage A,B,C or D but instead move down to carriages E or F as there's no one up that end of the platform, he was not best pleased when I informed him those carriages did not in actually exist, he shut up once he went and looked though
I've also booked seats for long journeys on these trains and invariably found someone sat in them who will not move, the guard being nowhere to be found until after we pass Leeds and the offending person has got off