Passengers will be able to connect their computers to the internet via UMTS USB modems, or via the new on-board Wi-Fi system, which ensures high quality continuous connections. The on-board WiFi system is also accessible to smart phones, netbooks and indeed any other WiFi-enabled device.

Telecom Italia is working with RFI, the infrastructure arm of the railways, to install next-generation mobile radio communications infrastructure along all 900 km of the high-speed rail track between Turin and Naples, and equipping all Frecciarossa-branded high-speed  trains with support technology systems (mobile radio communications repeater systems and WiFi cabling).

Worth remebering is that in Italy over 20% of the high-speed rail network (93% of the line between Bologna and Florence) runs through tunnels. Therefore, critical issues were associated with shielding electromagnetic waves in train carriages had to be properly addressed, in order to reliably support 3G/UMTS mobile radio network performance at the trains’ top speeds of 300 km/h .

Telecom Italia and Trenitalia, the operating company of the Italian State Railways,  will begin rolling out the system in April.

By the end of the summer, 30% of the high-speed train fleet will be operational; by the end of the year, all high-speed trains trains will be equipped with the new telecom equipment.

The infrastructure is also open to other radio mobile operators who wish to take part in this venture.

The extensive network of transmitters and the mobile radio communications repeater system will strengthen signals on trains and resolve reception problems along the line also for standard mobile voice calls, especially where trains go through tunnels.

Frecciarossa trains will also be equipped with an on-board server (half of the fleet by the end of the year, and the remainder by summer 2011) so that passengers can access a train portal.

The portal will make it possible to create an “on-train community”, and offer users online access to news items from major newspapers, TV programmes, on-demand films, music and videos, weather, traffic information, games, mobile ticketing, taxi reservations, car hire and other value-added services.