Deal puts IT network on more trains

Apr 30 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

TECHNOLOGY firm Nomad Digital has completed a multi-million-pound project to bring the wireless internet revolution to yet another UK train operator.

The Newcastle business, which installed the first rail broadband system in 2005, has teamed up with T-Mobile to develop the new network for Virgin Trains on the West Coast Main Line, which carries around 22.5million passenger journeys a year.

The high-speed Wi-Fi HotSpot system will initially supply broadband connections to passengers with laptops and wi-fi enabled mobile phones travelling on Pendolino Virgin Trains. The service will be rolled out to Virgin’s 21 Super Voyager trains in the summer.

Nomad also worked with T-Mobile to develop the first UK train broadband network on the Brighton Express and again on the Heathrow Express route.

Chief executive Graeme Lowdon said: “We get a lot of feedback from train operators. They do a lot of surveying work and the demand for real-time internet access is one of the biggest things.

“It’s a reflection of how people work and enjoy leisure time now. People enjoy using social networks and don’t want to be disconnected from that when they get on a train.”