Upgrade for rail line coverage
WORK to upgrade mobile coverage on a major stretch of Geelong’s rail line is expected to be finished by the end of June.
Telstra yesterday announced that it would soon deliver coverage inside the Geelong rail tunnel.
The company is also building two new mobile base stations at Little River and Tarneit, and co-locating a new site at Little River South.
Chief operations officer Robyn Denholm said the project would improve coverage for commuters inside the newer V/Line carriages.
The work is part of a wider $18 million investment, which aims to fit the entire Vlocity fleet with mobile signal boosters before the end of 2018.
Along with 35 new mobile phone towers, passengers will gain better coverage along the five regional lines.
“We know increased cover- age is a priority for our customers and for businesses in regional Australia and that is what this project will deliver,” Ms Denholm said. “Rail patronage is up and people want to use their devices in a reliable way on the train. On the Geelong line alone 7.62 million passenger trips were made last financial year.”
Work will begin next month, and take place outside train service times. About 400 metres of cabling and two highly directional antennas would be placed at either end of the tunnel.
Victoria is the first state to have carrier-approved in-train technology. It is designed to repeat the signal from nearby mobile base stations to ensure it can be received by passengers in each carriage.
Telstra, Optus and Vodafone have agreed to fund construction of the required mobile base stations.
The State Government is focusing on providing in-train repeaters.