Current ICT Project
Investigators:
  R. S. Sreenivas (Primary)
Project Title:
  Wireless Internet Service on Trains (Special Project)
Start Date: 10/1/2007
End Date: 12/31/2008
Summary of Project:
  The Illinois Legislature passed the “Broadband Access on Passenger Rail Law” that requires the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to develop a plan for ensuring high-speed data access in all passenger rail systems in Illinois at fair and reasonable prices. IDOT approached the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to investigate competing technologies that can bring the vision of providing internet access to passengers on trains closer to reality. To this end, experiments were conducted in a 34 mile stretch of the UPN line in the Greater Chicago area. The results of these experiments, reviewed in a report submitted to IDOT, establish the technical feasibility of providing internet access at a reasonable infrastructural cost. However, there non-technical issues that need to be considered before this vision can gain acceptance in the market place. These issues could range from ownership of the right-of-way, logistic issues involving infrastructure, level of consumer-support required to justify different levels of capital-investment on behalf of the service provider, technologies with a broader scope of use as incentive to the service provider, etc.
Objective of Project:
  To investigate competing technologies that can bring the vision of providing internet access to passengers on trains closer to reality.
Expected Outcome:
  This report was used in the IDOT executive summary presented to the General Assembly and Governor on December 31, 2007.
Click here to check the status of this project.
Last Updated: 11/18/2009