Telecommunications experts from across the country met this week to discuss a range of issues impacting railway operations now and for the future, including the recent Optus’ outage. 

Other issues covered in the meeting included the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s recent Outcomes Paper on consultation on options for possible future use of the 1.9 GHz band as Europe plans to open it up to their railways. This will mean that equipment for this purpose will soon enter the market.

The Committee also discussed ACMA’s ‘satellite direct to mobile’ (essentially mobile phone towers in space) consultation, which may help in future with some of our railways communications ‘dark territories’; specifically on whether or not the current approach to regulation will work. 

Also discussed was the future of GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway), 5G, FRMCS (the Future Railway Mobile Communication System developed by UIC), and what this means for NTCS (the National Train Communications System) and ETCS (the European Train Control System).