WiFi Arrives on Trains in the Frozen North

Thursday 4 Jul 2024

Ontario Northland has announced that its much-vaunted ON Board WiFi and Entertainment System is now available on its Polar Bear Express trains. The service, provided by Icomera, enables passengers to access the Internet for free throughout the five-hour journey from Cochrane to Moosonee in northern Canada.

In a bid to alleviate the costs of installing the on-board equipment, the province of Ontario agreed to commit Ca$2.1 million towards the work. As the tracks run so far north, away from established urban centres and mobile network masts – as far as the southern shore of Hudson Bay -  the on-train connection will be based on broadband data transmission from low Earth orbit satellites.  

Chad Evans, chief executive officer of Ontario Northland, commented “Because there’s no cellular signal, we had to find a different way and it’s with the onset of low-Earth orbit satellite Internet that we’ve been able to find a solution and partner with Icomera.”

Icomera said that besides the WiFi, they will offer a complimentary entertainment portal allowing travellers access to video content, music and audiobooks, as well as e-books. The system will also enable new integrations with onboard payment systems within the dining car, allowing for the use of debit and credit cards for purchases.

This year’s WiFi on Trains Conference – Traincomms 2024, will take place on the 13th and 14th of November at the Royal Horseguards Hotel, London.

For more information on getting involved please see www.Traincomms.com or contact Ross.Parsons@BWCS.com .

Please see http://traincomms.com/book1.cfm .

Traincomms 2024 is being sponsored by Huber+Suhner, Westermo, CGI, Boldyn Networks, Galgus and Icomera. Oxyfi, Antonics and Polomarconi will be exhibitors.

The latest programme is available here http://traincomms.com/#content2b

BWCS Consultancy

As many companies in this very niche sector look to sharpen their offering, grow their customer base and increase their revenues, remember that BWCS is available for ad hoc consultancy to support your aspirations. We have worked for a long list of players in the Traincomms market.  

Our core competencies include Understanding your markets, Growing your business, and Modelling your business options. Although we are best known for our work in the Transport sector, we also work in the Defence & Security and the Telecommunications Sectors too.

Please get in touch to discuss your requirements and if we can help we will, and if we can’t we will tell you so… ChrisBD@BWCS.com

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