By Andy McCue, 12 March 2004 16:45
NEWS Network Rail has awarded £77.5m worth of telecoms contracts to upgrade its wireless infrastructure so that train drivers and signallers can communicate more easily.
The two contracts have been awarded to Nortel Networks to build the new GSM Railways (GSMR) communications network and about 1500 masts alongside the railways. Radio equipment will be fitted in 200 cabs of Network Rail's rolling stock.
The upgrade to GSMR has to be done in order to comply with an EU directive on interoperability. GSMR is railway-specific GSM, which will increase coverage from a third of the rail network to 100 per cent. It allows for high-speed voice and data transmission and interoperates with train-protection communication technology, allowing for the transfer of logistics and signalling information between drivers and control centres.
The project is part of a wider commitment of £1.5bn to upgrade Network Rail's fixed telecoms network and IT systems by 2006.
No-one at Network Rail was available for comment.
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1. Paul Bryant
All very good but unfortuantly the railways do not need planning consent for masts meaning that they can put up what they like where they like on their land and don't bother to complain.