VR is updating the network technology of its long-distance trains with millions of euros. The goal is to offer passengers working on the train an “office-level” user experience as early as next summer.
VR’s ad sparked a discussion last week on the messaging service X (formerly Twitter). Professor at the University of Vaasa Harri Jalonen shared a screenshot of the ad he saw on his account on Wednesday.
In the ad, it is implied that working and team meetings would be easy on the train.
– Hand to heart, VR. Do you see, for example, a Teams meeting as a realistic option? Jalonen asked.
Passengers on long-distance trains in particular know that if work requires an internet connection, things may sometimes go undone on the train due to a weak internet connection.
Under Jalonen’s update, comments laughing at the VR ad quickly accumulated.
– It could be successful if there is nothing in the cloud and no connections are needed. And the whole team is in the same cabin, joked one commenter.
– Yes, they can all be successful, as long as the team is also on the train. And the customer, threw another.
– A team meeting in a freezing hum in a small private cabin. Lunch at 5x price. Own working time from the screen, where you can’t see anything because the sun is glaring and the curtain is broken. A customer “meeting” where you can’t hear the other person because of the internet. Wautsi, stated the third in a sarcastic tone.
The story continues below the picture.
VR promises a significant improvement to the network connections of long-distance trains already next summer. Mikko Huisko / Iltalehti
Improvement to come
VR’s customer service responded to Jalonen’s message saying that the situation is expected to improve. We asked VR what this means in practice.
Digital Director of VR Jonas Hagner tells Iltalehti that the company is renewing the wireless networks of long-distance trains.
The project renews the antennas on the roof of the train as well as the routers and cabling inside the trains. Cables are also installed between the carriages, so that the network connection is maintained when moving from one carriage to another.
The new network is scheduled to be put into use in the summer of 2024. According to Hagner, the reform requires the technology renewal of almost 400 long-distance carriages. The cost estimate is 4.5 million euros.
– Projects of this size are done less often, says Hagner.
– The wireless train network was first introduced in Pendolinos in 2010 and then in the Intercity fleet during 2011. Improvements have been made to VR’s train network over time, such as 4G, which was added in 2015, he lists previous projects.
What changes?
According to Hagner, passengers will notice the reform.
– Connections outside the train and the stability of the network will improve significantly with the new technology. We strive to offer working passengers an office-level user experience, says Hagner.
The goal of VR is that a train passenger can use, for example, streaming services as smoothly as at home.
What doesn’t change?
Not everything can be done with a 4.5 million euro network reform.
Train passengers who actively use the Internet may have noticed places on familiar routes where Internet connections simply disappear completely. You can’t just repair such covered areas.
– Long-distance trains also pass through areas where there are no operators’ base stations nearby, through which the train car’s repeaters or your own device could easily receive a signal. Cooperation with operators and the state is needed to improve the connections of these covered areas, Hagner explains.
According to Hagner, the construction of new base stations requires investments and decisions in favor of their construction.
VR hopes that the operators will invest in the broadband network on the sides of the tracks, so that the internet connections of the trains can also be improved through this.
– We are convinced that in strong cooperation with the state and operators we can significantly improve rail network connections, he sums up.