France: trains with Wifi connection on board
Written on 26th March 2008
10 COMMENTS 
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
When traveling through Europe, trains come in handy. It’s cheaper and sometimes faster than flying. Moreover, the train seats are more comfortable than the cramped up Easyjet chairs. You even got the space to open your laptop without having to sit with your elbows in your neck. So far, there’s only thing missing though: wireless Internet. Of course some people have this Vodafone satellite connection, but that’s just slow. No, we need a fast and reliable connection.
Well, vive la France! The French are making my wireless Internet dream reality. Railway company SNCF announced today that the company is running tests with three trains from and to Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg. It’s just six weeks before the first Internet-equipped train will leave the station.
The infrastructure of the wireless connection has been developed by Orange, Capgemini, Eutelsat and Alstom Transport and is suitable for every Train Grande Vitesse.
I think it’s a great way to lure travelers away from planes into trains. A lot of people will save time and money if they can keep working online during a trip. The only thing that might temper my enthusiasm is the price SNCF will charge for a Wifi key.
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By Eric Bun on Mar 26, 2008
In the Netherlands, the NS (the dutch railway operator) also tried to embed Wi-Fi networks in the trains. Unfortunately, implementation got stucked on financial issues. Hopefully will the success of SNCF (will it be?) catalyse the implementation of similar initiatieves in other countries!
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By Mads Kristensen on Mar 26, 2008
Tests are currently taking place in Denmark, where you can get wireless access on 14 (I think it is) daily trains from DSB running out of Copenhagen and to the Western part of Zealand. The service built in co-op with Danish telco TDC supposedly OK, but it is coughing a bit with a lot of simultanous users. So that’s not the issue.
No, the issue is pricing: About 4,5€ for 30 minutes. For a commuter like me thats just plain silly, hence I don’t use it.
What they really should do was put an add-on to a commuter card, where you could pay fx 50€ extra per month and get free wireless access in the train. That would make sense to me (even though of course I would like it to be completely free.
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By Jonathan Marks on Mar 26, 2008
Indeed I saw the results of the ProRail trials. I don’t think it was just financial. They were worried about people breaking into the network and viruses. Yet my son travels to Amsterdam every day on the bus with free wifi as part of the ticket. Brilliant.
Dutch railways – and Thalys – will have to spend quite a bit to get back on track. Not all coaches, even in First, have 220 Volt sockets (handy to recharge). And Thalys still can’t offer me a service whereby I can print out tickets at home and pick a seat next to a colleague (like on the airplane). I have had too many bad experiences to say that the train is much better than the plane.
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By René Spronk on Mar 26, 2008
The German railways (Die Bahn) have been testing this since 2006, joint with T-Mobile. The system is fully operational (and appearantly very reliable) on a number of hi-speed ICE trains.
The cost is the regular fee one pays to get access to T-Mobile wifi in Germany, irrespective of whether one uses the account on board a train or whilst in a hotel/cafe.
See http://www.bahn.de/p/view/mobi.....lnet.shtml (in german) for details.
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By Peter Robinett on Mar 27, 2008
Thalys Business Class claims to have 220 V outlets and free WiFi…
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By Sebastian Moeys on Mar 28, 2008
@ Peter Robinett,
Not really. In some Thalys trains (Amsterdam – Paris) free WiFi is being tested, so they say, but not on the train I was on today. It shouldn’t become fully operational until this summer.
Most Thalys first class seats have 220V outlets though, and if you’re unlucky they’ll probably allow you to switch to a seat in a different coach.
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By Sebastian Moeys on Mar 28, 2008
Well, I’m on the way back and this train does have WiFi. Works flawlessly and it’s free if you’re in first class.
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By Jonathan P. Marks on Dec 23, 2008
Six months later and Thalys still has not put power into all first class coaches…and forget about trying to swap seats. Travelled to Paris 11 December – no hot food because the fridge had broken and no power in coach 11. These guys are still in the 20th century.
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By N97 mit Vertrag on Jun 20, 2009
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By N97 ohne Vertrag on Jun 20, 2009
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