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Deutsche Bahn to get Seamless Mobile Network Along all Tracks

Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Telekom are radically improving mobile reception on trains: in future, passengers using the Deutsche Telekom (DT) mobile communications network are to be able to make calls and surf the internet on all routes without interruption – in much better quality than currently available. A press release from DT said:

By 2026 at the latest, coverage gaps along all railway lines in long-distance and regional services are to be eliminated.

Both companies have agreed that Deutsche Telekom is to build out its mobile communications network along Deutsche Bahn’s railway lines, close any gaps, and significantly increase its network’s performance. Together, the two companies are investing a sum in the hundreds of millions in order to achieve this goal. 

Deutsche Telekom will specifically provide Deutsche Bahn’s entire rail network with gap-free coverage in its mobile communications network by the end of 2026. The planned investments will be made to build out many routes by 2024 and will be finished on all routes by the end of 2026. Passengers on a number of regional routes will then have reception for the very first time.

Deutsche Bahn’s rail network covers a total of 33,400 kilometers, 7,800 kilometers of which are major routes which are used by all ICE trains as well as main IC trains. Deutsche Telekom wants to supply these routes with data rates of more than 200 Mbit/s by the end of 2024. Deutsche Telekom also aims to supply a data rate of more than 200 Mbit/s by the end of 2025 on another 13,800 kilometers of heavily-traveled routes, which are used by more than 2,000 passengers each day. In both cases this is significantly more than is currently available. 

On all other routes, Deutsche Telekom aims to provide a data rate of more than 100 Mbit/s by the end of 2026. In the coming years, the coverage should then be continually updated to match the latest technical standards.

Deutsche Telekom will put around 800 new cell sites into operation in the coming years and expand its capacity at hundreds of sites in order to improve the mobile communications network all along the railway lines. 

Deutsche Bahn wants to make spaces and fiber-optic infrastructure available to an even greater extent all along its tracks and provide services relating to planning, permission, and construction processes. Deutsche Bahn is also working on making it easier for mobile communications signals to enter its train interiors.

Here is a video that we recently made on Connecting Underground Railway Network.

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