Nokia Siemens to build first GSM-R network for Victoria

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 03 March 2009 02:07

Business IT - Networking

"This technology is a generic standard that is not only proven to offer benefits today, but has a clear path into the future. It will serve Victorians for many years to come as it is consistent with the spectrum that has been purchased by the rail industry across the nation."

Rail Track takes a different track, Next G
However Australian Rail Track appears to have taken a different approach. Two years ago Telstra was awarded a $85m contract to provide communications along 10,000kms of the Australian Rail Track Corporation's network using its Next G network supplemented by Iridium satellite services in remote areas.

That network was built with Federal Government funding under the Auslink National Transport Plan and the contract came just two years after Telstra had been awarded a contract to provide similar functionality using its CDMA network. Then, along came Sol Trujillo who closed that network down.

GSM-R is the current rail standard used throughout Europe and parts of Asia, and continues to be developed internationally along with its parent GSM technology. According to Nokia-Siemens, "GSM-R was developed to support the high safety standards and specific operational requirements of railways.

The arm of Siemens that was incorporated into the Nokia-Siemens Networks joint venture researched and created the GSM-R standard in the early 1990s. Nokia-Siemens now claims to have deployed more than 20 GSM-R networks in 17 countries serving some 50,000 km of railways.