Photo Credit: DB AG/Oliver Lang
Germany’s four mobile operators, railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the Government have signed an agreement to greatly improve 5G service on the Hamburg–Berlin mainline. The agreement could see trains being manufactured with different type of glass windows that enable signals to penetrate into a carriage without having to be relayed via an antenna on top of the carriage.
As part of a planned track upgrade between August 2025 to April 2026, the partners say they want to create an “Innovation Route for Mobile Network Expansion” by setting up dedicated phone masts to provide enhanced communications and signalling to trains and drivers using the mobile network technology known as Future Rail Mobile Communication System (FRMCS). The operators will also see to what extent they can use that infrasrtucture to improve customer experience of 5G within the carriages, with a Gbps target for on-board throughput.
A statement said, “Given the technical and economic challenges in providing service to train travelers, this can only succeed through a joint effort by all parties involved. The partners have agreed on the ambitious goal of a joint gigabit supply on trains in the Memorandum of Understanding, which will be signed today [Monday 21 October].”
The 278-kilometer railway connection between Hamburg and Berlin is one of the busiest routes in Germany, wih up to 230 trains and about 30,000 passengers per day. During the upcoming renovation of the route, DB will consolidate work on tracks, switches, and overhead lines, creating overtaking opportunities, upgrading several stations, and renewing signaling and safety technology. DB will also use the planned multi-month line closure to build the infrastructure for the future rail mobile communication system (FRMCS), which will replace the current railway radio GSM-R across Europe by 2035.
The masts and comms cabinets, power and fibre connectivity built for FRMCS supply will also be made available by DB to mobile companies for testing and coverage of the line for passengers.
Part of the mobile tests will look at how to get signal from the trackside masts inside the carriages to customers. The companies will look at developing windows that can allow mobile signals to penetrate better. At the moment external metal coating – designed to protect cars from sunlight – hampers signal propogation. DB said that windows that allow mobile signals to penetrate better into the car interior will gradually replace the existing repeaters that receive signals via antennas on the cars and transmit them into the interior.
The mobile network companies – 1&1, DT, Telefonica O2 and Vodafon – intend to jointly develop an architecture that works both technically and commercially. They and the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport set a common goal of providing gigabit coverage for passengers on the future route and ensuring integration with the FRMCS.
FRMCS is a standards-based approach being driven in Europe to replace GSM-R, the legacy technology that provides dedicated railway coverage. The first version of the FRMCS Technical Specifications for Interoperability, produced by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), was published in 2023, with a second version expected in 2027. The deployment of experimental lines is scheduled to start in 2025. French train operator SNCF said the migration phase in France to FRMCS will take place between 2028 and 2035, with gradual commercial operation from 2032. The schedule is demanding, because all the facilities will need to be fully operational by 2035 to deal with the obsolescence of GSM-R, for which some manufacturers will no longer guarantee maintenance from 2030.
A blog post from SNCF said that SNCF Réseau is carrying out Research & Development projects in partnership with manufacturers (Siemens, Alstom, Kontron, Thalès, Nokia, etc.) and other European infrastructure managers (the Austrian OEBB, the Swiss SBB, the German DB Infrago, the Spanish ADIF and the Dutch Prorail). These projects include:
- 5G-RACOM (5G for resilient and green RAil COMmunication): a Franco-German project studying solutions for FRMCS. Among other things, it aims to study, develop and test radio technologies capable of supporting both 2G and 5G systems during the migration phase, and is supported by the French government via the France 2030 investment plan.
- R2 DATO : a programme that focuses on train automation, with an increasing emphasis on FRMCS.
- MORANE 2 : ( MO bile Radio for RA ilways Networks in Europe ) also known as “Destination 2”. This program, which is currently under construction, will enable product development standards to be validated. It will run for three years between 2024 and 2027.
