5 years ago... Virgin Trains creates mobile office

NEWS 08.07.98:Virgin Trains has announced a deal with Cellnet to convert one of its first-class carriages into a mobile office. Passengers on the London to Manchester service will have access to email, telephones, fax and mobile phone rechargers. 08.07.03:What a difference five years makes... or not as the case may be. In fact it appears we've made very little headway over the past half-decade in this particular area. Considering the speed at which technology traditionally moves the development of the mobile office on board trains has been a curiosity - suggesting any involvement with the UK train service must somehow be synonymous with delays. Only last month Virgin was still talking about mobile working on board its trains. So Wi-Fi may be on its way, whereas in 1998 we were still in awe of the mobile phone, but it's still not great leaps and bounds. Hopefully though we've at least moved on to a situation where such facilities won't just be the preserve of the 'first class' passenger. In truth, the most notable difference appears to be that Cellnet is no more. Since this story was written the company has seen a number of changes. Back in 1998 Cellnet was stuck in the middle of a custody battle between owners Securicor and BT. The next year BT claimed total control of the company - an event which led to several name changes, one spin off and the running up of serious debts.