Train wifi in the UK, long a source of frustration for passengers, is about to get radically faster – for a lucky few at least.
A two-month trial has begun on one Great Western Railway (GWR) train, fitted with technology from Formula One that switches between the signals from 5G masts to low Earth-orbit satellites to provide almost seamless, superfast wifi.
For now, only one of GWR’s 57 intercity express trains will have a connection good enough to deliver a Netflix series to the seat. However, a successful trial and the promise of lower costs could spell a wider rollout to the rest of the mainline railway by 2030.
On a test run from London Paddington to Newbury and back, the Guardian found the wifi fast and reliable enough to video call editors at the office, catch up on old Match of the Days on iPlayer and listen to songs on YouTube at the same time, with only occasional blips and pixelation.
Download speeds reached more than 120 megabytes a second, faster than many homes.
Speaking at Paddington at the launch of the trial, the rail minister, Peter Hendy, said: “Passenger experience is top of our agenda – and 21st-century experience ought to be seamless fast wifi … which will make the time spent travelling by train even more valuable.”
He said the trial would complement government investment in improving mobile connectivity, with another £41m set aside for train wifi and low-orbit satellite connections, announced in June’s spending review. The Department for Transport is funding work to eliminate mobile signal black spots in rail tunnels and upgrading 5G infrastructure at stations on GWR routes.
Lord Hendy said the new state-owned Great British Railways would aspire to fast wifi across the entire railway, but added: “The real question is how quickly and how cheaply it can be rolled out.”
Hendy said it could be “a real productivity benefit for the whole country, hopefully at a modest cost”.
He said the department would be awaiting the results of the trial, but its advocates claim the new system could be installed relatively quickly and cheaply without requiring extra infrastructure on the railway. The previous government was considering scrapping free wifi on trains because of the unreliability and cost.
Nick Fry, the chair of Motion Applied, a tech company spun out of the McLaren racing division, said the pilot would demonstrate the technology was ready. The UK-made tech, pioneered in F1, combines “several pizza-sized boxes” and antennae attached to the roof of the train, allowing it to connect and switch between the best available network, from wifi to 5G to satellite, he said. “It’s very fast with fewer dropouts.”
The system is also being rolled out on Deutsche Bahn services in Germany and on Brightline and Amtrak trains in the US.
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“We look forward to providing rail passengers with the same service we provide for Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton,” Fry added.
Part of the trial will be to track passenger behaviour to see how much satellite data would be required if free, fast wifi was available for streaming.
The £300k cost is being funded by Peninsula Transport, a body combining Devon, Cornwall, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay, with better connectivity seen as a critical investment for parts of England where mobile coverage is patchy.
Businesses have welcomed the trial. Andy Jasper, the chief executive of the Eden Project in Cornwall, said GWR trains were his “travelling office, and a bloodstream between Cornwall and London – new wifi is going to be the oxygen that keeps everything pumping”.
Jasper said he was used to having to time conversations onboard for when he knew the wifi would work, such as a quick 10-minute Teams meeting in Plymouth. “Reliable wifi puts your mind at ease – it turns the journey into a prime opportunity to get things done.”