Railway and Transport Networks: Onboard Wi-Fi

Railway networks (SNCF, RATP, and regional operators) and transport networks (metros, trams, and BRT systems) combine TETRA/GSM-R communications, FRMCS (the successor to GSM-R), passenger Wi-Fi on trains, ETCS/CBTC signalling, and video surveillance in stations. 2026 railway guide.

Critical railway systems

• GSM-R: mission-critical voice and data radio communications (being phased out and replaced by FRMCS)
• FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System): based on 5G, with deployment scheduled for 2026-2030
• ETCS (European Train Control System): standardized European signalling system
• CBTC (Communications-Based Train Control): automated metros (Lines 1 and 14 in Paris)
• TETRA: professional radio communications for police and ambulance services, also used by some urban transport operators

Passenger Wi-Fi on trains

• Controller installed in the power car
• APs distributed throughout each car (typically 1 AP per car)
• Backhaul: aggregated multi-operator 4G/5G connectivity (Cradlepoint, Peplink)
• SatCom for areas without terrestrial coverage
• Bandwidth per trainset: 500 Mbps-1 Gbps through aggregated 4G/5G connectivity
• Peak bandwidth per passenger: 1-2 Mbps is acceptable

Stations

• Public Wi-Fi: deployment by SNCF Gares & Connexions
• Dynamic signage (TFT): dedicated LAN
• Ticketing: secure LAN for payment terminals
• Video surveillance: HD IP cameras with local and cloud storage
• IoT: crowd-monitoring and air-quality sensors

CBTC for automated metros

• Continuous train-to-infrastructure communications: dedicated trackside WiFi 5-6
• Latency: <100 ms for positioning
• Redundancy: 2 parallel networks for life-safety operations
• Vendors: Siemens (Paris Line 14), Alstom, Thales, Hitachi Rail
• SIL 4 (Safety Integrity Level 4) — highest standard

Transport cybersecurity

• NIS2: transport operators are essential entities
• Attacks: Deutsche Bahn in 2017 (WannaCry) and Iran's railway system in 2021
• Strict segmentation: safety systems (SIL) must never be connected to IT systems
• SIL 4 penetration testing is mandatory
• TS 50701 compliance (new railway cybersecurity standard)

FRMCS (future system)

• Based on 5G SA with network slicing
• Mission-critical PTT (Push-to-Talk), data, and video
• Operators and vendors: Orange Business, Deutsche Bahn, Nokia, Ericsson
• France timeline: pilots in 2025, rollout from 2027-2030
• Replaces GSM-R, which will be discontinued in 2035

Automated metro line project budget

• CBTC infrastructure: ~€50M excluding tax per line
• Wi-Fi for a fleet of 30 trains: ~€3M excluding tax
• Station video surveillance: ~€5M excluding tax
• FRMCS migration: ~€30M excluding tax
• Total: ~€100M+ per line project

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