Danish commuters get Wi-fi enabled trains

A SYSTEM which will provide hide speed Wi-fi access to commuters and GPS positioning for the train company is to be installed on 29 trains in Denmark run by Arriva.

These services are made possible through the installation of a Moovbox from Moovera Networks. The backhaul link will be provided by an HSDPA connexion to the 3G (W-CDMA) network run by 3 in Denmark.

Given that HSDPA works up to 7.2 Mbit/s, that's the top whack which a traveller on one of the trains might experience with his or her Wi-fi enabled laptop or mobile phone.

This is Moovera's first win for trains although it has been offering similar services for on buses, coaches and ferries. Given that Arriva has other train franchises in the like of the UK and Italy where 3 also operates its 3G networks, we could easily see more of these installations occurring.

The Moovbox is a pretty impressive bit of kit because besides routing Wi-fi it also provides secure Ethernet connexions for the train itself.

So the train operator can run cctv over the system, for example. There's also built-in GPS for automatic vehicle location, so Arriva will know very precisely where the train is and be able to estimate how late it might be.

You might think that Moovera Networks is a Danish company but instead it's a plucky Brit company based in the unlikely location of Sittingbourne. µ