ScotRail Launches Satellite-Delivered On-Train WiFi Service

UK train operator ScotRail has today announced the start of a trial involving satellite-delivered broadband to six trains trundling across the most northerly parts of its network. The specially-upgraded trains will use technology developed in conjunction with Bathgate-based Clarus Networks to deliver faster, more reliable, passenger WiFi services via a connection to Starlink Low Earth Orbit satellites.

In what the operator is calling a UK-first, the six Class 158 trains will enable passengers to remain connected on routes from Inverness to Wick, Thurso, Kyle of Lochalsh, and Aberdeen. The pilot scheme will last six months and is being backed by the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the Scottish Futures Trust.

The plan is to address what ScotRail and Clarus Networks have, with admirable understatement, referred to as “long-standing communication challenges in the Scottish Highlands”. Besides improving the WiFi, ScotRail says the new system will offer GPS tracking of trains, live on-board CCTV and better journey information for customers.

Upgraded trains will be ear-marked with suitable stickers and signage, passengers will also see a separate WiFi Landing page when logging on to the service.

If successful, the trial could lead to the roll-out of the technology across the remaining class 158 trains in the ScotRail fleet, which would cover other rural lines including the West Highlands, Stranraer, Dumfries and the Borders. It will also help to influence the inclusion of this technology in the procurement of new fleets and new trains.

The Starlink satellite system, operated by SpaceX, is rapidly being seen as a workable and not-so-prohibitively-expensive, in-fill for rail lines where sightings of mobile masts are rarer than a Scottish goal at a major Football Tournament.

Scott Prentice, ScotRail Strategy and Planning Director, said “The launch of this trial is fantastic news for our customers using services in the north of the country, and will have a very positive impact on their journey experience. There has been a lot of hard work by our staff and our partner, Clarus Networks, to get to this point, and I am looking forward to seeing how customers interact with the new technology on our trains.

Trackside communications systems and LEO satellite-delivered broadband as ways of supplying better on-train WiFi will both feature heavily at this year’s Traincomms Conference in London (www.Traincomms.com ).

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