It is an ambitious project to improve cell phone reception on trains: Deutsche Bahn wants to test how the 5G radio standard can also be used well on fast-moving trains.
The “Gigabit Innovation Track” project is making progress. Today, for the first time, a train will roll on the ten-kilometer-long test route between Karow and Malchow in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in order to carry out mobile phone measurements to receive the 5G radio standard, Deutsche Bahn announced.
The rail project, in which O2 Telefónica, the radio mast operator Vantage Towers and the network equipment provider Ericsson are also involved, is intended to test how 5G can also be used well in fast-moving trains. Although 5G offers the best data transmission, the radio standard has so far only played a minor role on railway lines. The 5G antennas, which only have a range of one kilometer, are mainly located in cities.
During the test, the antennas are aimed specifically at the railway line and transmission is carried out in the high 3.6 gigahertz frequency band – this band offers a particularly high and fast data throughput. The connection transfer from one radio cell to the next is also critical when the smartphone is on a fast train. The tests should also provide insights into this.
Future network supply still open
For the test drives, a discarded ICE train was equipped with antennas on the outside and inside and converted into a laboratory train. In the first project phase, the train travels at up to 80 kilometers per hour. Later it will be able to reach speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour.
It is still unclear whether Germany’s railway lines will actually receive a gigabit network. According to the railway, this would require around 20,000 new mobile phone masts along the railway lines. However, if the tests show that 5G in the high frequency band is very suitable for rail routes and the costs can be controlled thanks to an uncomplicated design, this could provide travelers with better coverage on train journeys in the future.
Results of the project by the end of the year
The project partners want to present results and proposals for expanding the infrastructure by the end of the year. “The project results are intended to help politicians design the 5G expansion along the railways and its financing,” said the railway.
Politicians seem ready to invest: “Our aim is for the train to be a rolling office or living room in which mobile working, video streaming and phone calls on cell phones are technically possible. This high quality can only be achieved with a gigabit supply,” explained Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP).