Trackside phone deal promises faster internet for commuters

RAIL chiefs are on the cusp of privatising thousands of miles of trackside phone lines in a move that will pave the way for commuters to get faster on-board internet coverage.

Some 10,000 miles of phone cables running next to railway lines are to be sold off under proposals also intended to boost broad- band speeds for millions of households.

The winning investor will commit to upgrading the existing infrastructure and building 250 new mobile phone masts next to the tracks to help eradicate socalled 5G “notspots”.

Officials launched an auction to sell off the phone lines a year ago, slapping a £1bn price tag on the sell-off. Two investment groups have now been selected for the final round.

The first includes Neos, co-owned by SSE, the FTSE 100 energy giant, which is bidding in conjunction with the Spanish telecoms firm Cellnex, according to City sources. They will compete against a group that includes Nokia, Virgin Media, and the US engineering consultancy Jacobs.

The sell-off marks a key moment for Great British Railways, which was mocked as “the return of British Rail”

when it was launched by Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, in May last year.

Critics argued that the new state-owned body, bringing track and trains under the control of one entity for the first time in nearly two decades, was little more than “nationalisation by stealth”.

But sources close to the phone line sell-off argue that it shows Great British Rail- ways is eager to harness private sector investment to revitalise the railways.

The upgrade of old British Rail phone lines – some almost a century old – will act as a key plank of Government plans to drastically improve rural broadband connectivity.

Whitehall sources say improving internet reception on trains is a key plank of Treasury thinking to boost economic productivity as it will allow commuters to begin their working day as soon as they step on a train. It will also provide a boon to the levelling-up agenda, allowing people to live further away from their offices and finish work on the journey home.

Upgrading the trackside lines – many of which are copper – to full-fibre is also expected to lead to fewer signal failures. Once the upgrades are completed, officials expect more than 50pc of the capacity will be left spare for investors to run their own telecoms services.

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New mobile phone masts will be built next to railway tracks as part of the telecoms deal