Pennisular Transport had input into the design of the IET?.....that's a new claim?

 
A couple of years ago, wasn't the DfT, looking for a saving, querying why trains need wifi provision at all?

Mark

 
And where did the BBC get it from? Probably this, from Railway News:

Both say that this £41M was allocated in the Spending Review, which it wasn't. It's part of the New Industrial Strategy of a couple of weeks later. No doubt in the Treasury's towering hierarchy of numbers it's part of something in the Spending Review, but not obviously.

Like most things these days it may well be clever, but its cleverness is so oversold it's hard to tell. Looked at one way it's a step on from Icomera's system of combining all the mobile phone signals a train can get hold of to make a reasonably continuous backhaul for WiFi. This time they add in other radiocomms services to reduce the number of total blackouts along the route.

From another direction these guys worked in F1 for teams with a lot to spend on radiocomms kit that's small, light, sets up quickly to work anywhere in the world, etc. That has given them a product that has advantages in a train.

What no-one's letting on is whose LEO satellites they will use! Maybe they have tried to be independent and hope to sign up to whatever they can at the time (though we all know most of the satellite's are Elon's).

 
This is 'nicked' word for word from the BBC website

It is correct to give the URL of the webpage, infoman

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqjwkdez71ro

 
A new UK-first pilot scheme is aiming to create fast and more reliable train wi-fi, using technology originally developed for Formula 1 cars.

It will see a train in the Great Western Railway fleet use a hybrid system of both signals from mobile phone masts on the ground and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites in space to create a more reliable connection.

The scheme has been developed by British tech company Motion Applied, in partnership with the transport body for Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay, Peninsula Transport.

The pilot will last for 60 days onboard GWR's Intercity Express Train which runs in the South West region, having started in mid-November.

In a recent study by networking testing firm Ookla, external, the UK ranked 16th out of 18 major European and Asian countries for train wi-fi speed, with average download speeds at just 1.09 megabits per second, compared to Sweden's 64.58.

Nick Fry, chairman of Motion Applied, external, formerly part of McLaren Group, said the issues faced in connecting to the internet from a fast moving train had "many parallels with motorsport".

He added that by using technology originally developed for F1 cars, trains should be able to switch between ground and space-based networks such as LEO satellites to "reliably connect" without drop outs.

In the 2025 spending review, the Department of Transport secured £41m to introduce low earth orbit satellite connectivity on all mainline trains by 2030.
'A step in the right direction'

Councillor Dan Rogerson, from the Peninsula Transport board, called the pilot a "major milestone" in its plans to modernise transport infrastructure across the South West and South Wales.

"It's not just about passenger wi-fi," he said. "This is about a whole new digital backbone for our transport networks".

Bruce Williamson from the campaign group Railfuture told the BBC the scheme appeared to be "really good news".

"We're all increasingly connected these days, and wi-fi has become more and more of an essential service for travellers. I'm not going to hold my breath, but this is a step in the right direction."

In May, South Western Railway launched its own, separate, "superfast" wi-fi rollout for its trains between Earlsfield and Basingstoke, using trackside poles and antennas to create a bespoke 5G rail network.