DT Boosts Domestic Rail Connectivity

Deutsche Telekom announced that the project with Deutsche Bahn boosted mobile coverage along German rail routes. It delivered a twelvefold improvement in data rates and had all but wiped out not-spots across large swathes of the transport network.

The operator teamed with Deutsche Bahn in 2021 to bolster coverage, with a joint investment valued in the triple-digit millions of euros boosting data rates to 200Mb/s across 99% of main routes spanning a total of 7,800 kilometers. DT noted the same data rate is available on 13,800 kilometers of routes deemed high usage because more than 2,000 passengers are carried each day, with coverage on 12,000 kilometers of secondary tracks providing 100Mb/s across 96% of the network compared with less than 83% in 2021.

Data rates of up to 300Mb/s are possible in some areas, DT added. The operator has built 470 new masts and upgraded around 1,900 as part of the project. DT explained the companies achieved their initial coverage goals earlier than planned and will now shift focus to continuing to improve connectivity in tunnels. The partners intend to step up work on routes running through nature reserves, plotting full coverage on a key track running through the Mueritz National Park by 2026.

Deutsche Bahn is also pumping €50 million into adapting 70,000 window panes on long-distance trains to be radio-permeable, using lasers to etch patterns into the wafer-thin metal layer used to protect carriages from sunlight, in turn enabling the rail company to remove the signal-repeaters it currently employs. DT explained the process can be employed on existing carriages and offers a sustainable means of boosting the signal.