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RADWIN Chosen to Beef Up On-Train WiFi in Utah
(26 Sep 2017, BWCS Staff)The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) says it has approved the system acceptance testing of RADWIN’s track-side solution for use on the state’s FrontRunner commuter trains. The WiFi on trains project in Utah has been implemented by The GBS Group of Virginia Beach, VA. UTA and GBS chose RADWIN’s FiberinMotion® Train-to-Ground solution to help deliver free, high-speed WiFi.
The relatively new FrontRunner trains serve an 89-mile corridor covering the counties of Weber, Davis, Utah, and Salt Lake. According to RADWIN its track-side radios have been deployed on a 30 mile stretch of track and are located approximately 2 miles apart covering a section just north of Salt Lake City. The supplier notes that its FiberinMotion® solution was chosen to replace a low-throughput, legacy radio system and was integrated by the GBS Group - RADWIN’s partner and system integrator. The track-side system operates in conjunction with a cellular based solution supplied by 21Net.
Kyle Brimley, UTA’s Manager of Communications and Deployment, commented “New high-speed Wi-Fi train to ground communications has proven to be very successful in our north corridor. With the use of smart phones and tablets onboard our trains growing at an exponential rate, it was decided to upgrade our wireless infrastructure with RADWIN’s FiberinMotion® to provide our passengers with an increased travel experience and enable an improved broadband service. The bandwidth in the area covered by RADWIN systems delivers from 3 to 10 times the broadband that we can achieve with cellular.”
Meanwhile, Nir Hayzler, RADWIN’s Vice President and Head of Strategic Industries, said “We are proud to have been chosen by the GBS Group and their client the Utah Transit Authority for this prestigious WiFi on trains project. Time and again it’s been proven that in order to meet passengers’ WiFi demands, train operators cannot solely rely on commercial cellular networks.” He claimed. “To provide true high capacity and consistent WiFi connectivity to passengers, operators require a dedicated track-side network.”
UTA operates 45 miles of light rail in Salt Lake County and 90 miles of commuter rail from Salt Lake City to destinations in Utah and Weber counties. Last year its ridership totalled over 46.6 million, however, this figure also included passengers on the 600 buses that the authority operates.
On-board WiFi, trackside networks, the growing market for passenger WiFi services and on-board entertainment formed the main subjects of the recent WiFi on Trains Conference hosted by BWCS (www.Traincomms2017.com ). For more information on 2018’s event please contact Ross.Parsons@BWCS.com
This year's Train Communications System Conference was sponsored by Icomera (Gold), Nomad Digital (Silver), Fluidmesh (Bronze), 21Net (Cocktails), LetsJoin (Lunch Day 1) and RADWIN (Lunch Day 2).
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