Railway Communication System -a lost opportunity?

[AndrewNewens]

I recently emailed Network Rail to ask if the new mobile phone network they are building (they call it a Railway Communication System or RCS) might include some extra capacity which could be used by passengers. Coverage over much of the network is I'm sure most people will agree very patchy - non existent in tunnels - and this makes using a laptop for email whilst on a train frustrating. Yes, loud mobile phone conversations can be rude or annoying, but the ability to work whilst on the move should not be under estimated in terms of attracting people out of their cars and onto trains.

Anyway, NR have replied and said this is not possible since "RCS is safety critical and NR must be able to ensure access to the infrastructure supporting it at all times" This seems like a pretty lame excuse and NR could be missing out on a valuable possible income stream from sub-leasing their network to other mobile providers. Is this just another example of our the British obsession with pointless 'health & safety'?

 

[Hydro]

No, because the RCS system is to provide direct secure communications between signalling centres and trains, and also to transmit movement authorities on ERTMS lines. I'm sure there are restrictions on using radio frequencies used for Air Traffic Control and so forth, so it should be the same for RCS.

 

[The Planner]

I don't think so no. Surely the reason for doing it is that it is purely for NR only so there is a guarentee that the call will get through and not having to rely on external providers and the costs and issues that can provide. In this case "health and safety" is the correct issue. What next, lease out the Network Rail vehicles as cabs and vans to earn a few more quid ??

 

[Hydro]

"OK, 1Z12, clear to Mach max speed 60km/h, clear to proceed *presses buttons, clicks mouse*...and TRANSMIT!"

"I'm sorry. The number you have dialled is busy. Please hang up and try again later."

 

[91101]

GSM-R is a dedicated set of frequencys of the GSM spectrum (forgive me if I have used the wrong radio terminologythere) dedicated to JUST the railways, those frequencies, are as I understand it, not what the mobile networks send and recieve on.

There needs to be enough redundancy into the system to cope with any incident that may occur, so I agree, this needs to be a dedicated Railway system.

 

[HugePilchard]

I'm not entirely familiar with GSM-R, but from what I've been able to find out, there's probably few technical reasons why it couldn't be made to work... but, having been involved with the process of getting two mobile networks to play nicely with each other, I can say that it's far from trivial.

If the decision was made to allow customers of the mobile networks onto the GSM-R network, then the most likely way that it would happen would be to set it up as a roaming arrangement, similar to what you get when you take your UK mobile abroad. One of the problems with roaming is that there's no handover between the networks, so if you're in the middle of a call on, say, Vodafone, it'll drop when you leave Voda coverage and you'll have to redial when you pick up roaming coverage. Likewise, if you make a call when you're on the train and try to continue it as you leave the station, it'll also drop.

There's also the issue of capacity. I can't imagine the railways will be keen to invest in vast amounts of extra capacity to support non-railway users, and for most bits of line will invest in the bare minimum. That'll mean eight timeslots in a given area, each of which will normally hold a single 'thing'. One of those will probably be put aside for signalling/call setup, leaving you with seven. Next you've got in-cab signalling so there's another. You'll want at least another free for cab radio. You're down to five. That means that, assuming there are no other trains in the area, you've only got five people who can make a call or use data. And what do you do if another train comes along? I guess you have to boot some people off in order to make space for that train, leading to the customers complaining to their mobile operator about dropped calls.

Now, if those people complain to their operator, who checks and sees that the customer is likely to have been using GSM-R at the time, the operator will then contact whoever is running the GSM-R network - hey presto, extra staff needed just to handle that workload.

It does seem unlikely to me that the opportunity to make extra money out of the system will be allowed to completely pass by; one of the major costs the mobile operators have while erecting new base stations is the cost of the mast, and of getting a mains supply to them. Therefore, existing masts are always appealing, and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if we start seeing equipment from the public operators springing up on the same masts as GSM-R kit, with the mobile operators paying Network Rail for the privilege.

 

[Poggs]

GSM-R is a variant of GSM which is focussed specifically on the operational requirements of a railway communication system. It isn't designed to the same standards as public GSM networks. Far too many risks exist in allowing public GSM handsets to roam on to this network and I very much doubt anyone has even considered 'commercialising' it.

Also, I don't think the GSM spec allows you to roam on to another network *and* keep any active voice or data connections. The setup process takes several seconds. Given that GSM-R BTSes will be 'filling in' for poor coverage, you'll drop your calls and data anyway when you roam on to GSM-R and back again, even if it were technically feasible.

 

[Bald Rick]

A bit more simple than that.

As it is an essential railway system, NR can erect the masts and support equipment pretty much where it likes on its own land without requiring planning permission.

If, however, there was to be a commercial use of the masts etc, then NR would need planning permission and all the tribulations that goes with it.

Easy decision.

 

[whhistle]

[GSM-R] frequencies, are as I understand it, not what the mobile networks send and recieve on.

Correct!

GSM, GPRS and EDGE are all "old" mobile networks used, very British.
HSPA and WCDMA are the latest Eurpoean version.

My HTC Desire, dependant on location will show me a G (GSM), E (Edge) or H(HSPA), each being better quality (faster web access) in that order.

GSM-R is different to standard GSM.

 

[HugePilchard]

Looking at it purely from a frequency standpoint, GSM-R is in a very similar range to where the UK's two 900MHz GSM networks (O2 and Vodafone) are. I'm not sure what you mean by "Very British", as the G in GSM stands for "Global"!

HSxPA and WCDMA are both parts of UMTS (3G), which operates around the 2100MHz network on all five UK networks.