More WiFi access on East Anglia-London rail route

22 March 2019, 09:06 | Updated: 22 March 2019, 09:13

Train passengers between East Anglia and Liverpool Street can now get access to free WiFi.

Greater Anglia has completed a £4.8 million project to install it.

It means up to 907,000 passengers a month can now connect their devices to on-board WiFi on the majority of its trains at no cost - allowing for a more productive commute and reducing personal data charges.

The project has taken over a year and involved a bespoke installation on four different types of train using over 18km of Ethernet cable.

Greater Anglia's wi-fi suppliers have been fitting the new system at Ilford Depot to one train every day since March 2018 - 840 separate carriages in total.

Each train requires its own WiFi access points, network switch, roof antennae and power supply housed in a secure cupboard, with bespoke designs required for each different type of train.

Project Manager, Katharine Rosa, said, "Fitting WiFi to trains is a complex task, so it's great news that passengers can now be more productive while they are travelling and also make savings on their data packages by using the free WiFi on board.

"While we await the roll-out of our brand new fleet of trains, which will also have free WiFi, we are committed to improving our current fleet to improve passengers' journeys now."