What wonderful news… \u00a0within a year we’ll have full mobile telephone\u00a0coverage in the Melbourne underground loop.<\/p>\n
Travellers on Melbourne’s City Loop will finally get mobile phone hook-up after deal to eliminate “dead zones”.<\/p>\n
Since day one, the loop has not had coverage and any calls we’re on as the train enters the tunnel simply cuts out. \u00a0But that is all about to change.<\/p>\n
Part of\u00a0the Melbourne Underground Rail Link will see cabling laid in a joint effort between VicTrack, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.<\/p>\n
Melbourne Metro is a priority project for the Victorian Government to further progress planning and development work for the proposed nine kilometre rail tunnel project, which includes five new underground stations.<\/p>\n
People using Melbourne\u2019s City Loop will have full mobile telephone coverage within a year.<\/p>\n
The breakthrough came after the state rail authority struck a deal with Australia\u2019s three main mobile carriers, promising to end years of frustration for people plagued by mobile \u201cdead zones\u201d .<\/p>\n
The new uninterrupted service has been made possible in large part by the upgrade of train driver communications systems from analogue to digital.<\/p>\n
Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder said the installation of 3G mobile infrastructure meant passengers would no longer have to \u2018\u2018 truncatea telephone\u2019 \u2019 call or put up with constant disruption while in the City Loop.<\/p>\n
The project, officially known as the Melbourne Underground Rail Link, is a joint effort between the state rail authority, VicTrack, and the three service providers \u2013 Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.<\/p>\n
Once activated, about 130,000 daily commuters should benefit from the new underground network . The City Loop accounts for more than half of all train trips heading in or out of the CBD.<\/p>\n
As many as 9600 people could be connected to the network at any one time, based on the City Loop\u2019s capacity of 12 trains carrying a maximum of 800 passengers each.<\/p>\n
The project is being coordinated by Optus on behalf of the other mobile carriers.<\/p>\n
A spokeswoman for Vodafone, Carolyn Swindell, said that Optus, as lead carrier, was responsible for the design of the infrastructure and the timetable for launching the expanded mobile network.<\/p>\n
Mr Mulder confirmed that works had already begun. \u201cOver 12 kilometres of coaxial cable has been installed inside the City Loop\u2019s four tunnels,\u201d he said. \u201cThis cabling will serve as the backbone for uninterrupted mobile telephone coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cabling system is technically known as a \u201cleaky feeder\u201d and is the reason many of the world\u2019s undergrounds\u2013 including Hong Kong\u2019s MTR, the London Underground and, most recently, Sydney\u2019s City Circle Line \u2013 have seamless mobile phone coverage.<\/p>\n
James Howe, corporate affairs spokesman for Telstra, said the technology\u2019s \u201cproven success\u201d was the reason the system was implemented in Sydney and was now being installed in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key reason for using the \u2018leaky feeder\u2019 system in Australia is that it just works,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lachlan McKenzie, of Transport for New South Wales, was also positive : \u201cThere have been no complaints about poor mobile service on the City Circle Line since the expanded mobile network was launched in April 2013.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move is possible because of the continuing work to replace the existing analogue train driver communications system with a unified digital radio system.<\/p>\n
According to a Metro Trains spokeswoman, Larisa Tait, a side benefit of the driver communications upgrade was that the mobile service providers could install and operate 3G infrastructure inside the City Loop without the risk of interfering with driver communications.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn short, the upgrade makes it possible for commuters to gain access to full 3G mobile services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mr Mulder said the government\u2019s most important operational transport priority had been to ensure that commuter tunnels such as the City Loop employed up-to-date technology to maximise safety.<\/p>\n
The president of the Public Transport Users Association, Tony Morton, welcomed the mobile phone infrastructure, but said the continued upkeep of Melbourne\u2019s rail network should take a higher priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no question that improving the reliability of Melbourne\u2019s train network should take priority over the installation of mobile infrastructure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if the mobile service providers are footing the bill for this project with little or no contribution from the Victorian government , then the outcome will be of great benefit to public transport users.\u201d<\/p>\n
No official date has been set for the launch of the City Loop\u2019s expanded mobile network but Telstra\u2019s Mr Howe said the network was expected to go live \u201cwithin the next 12 months\u201d .<\/p>\n
Source: TheAge<\/a> | Hugh McMaster writes for The Citizen (www.thecitizen.org.au<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What wonderful news… \u00a0within a year we’ll have full mobile telephone\u00a0coverage in the Melbourne underground loop. Travellers on Melbourne’s City Loop will finally get mobile phone hook-up after deal to eliminate “dead zones”. Since day one, the loop has not had coverage and any calls we’re on as the train enters the tunnel simply cuts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":1813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,269],"tags":[3871,3870],"class_list":["post-1810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne-business","category-great","tag-melbourne-city-loop","tag-mobile-phone","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n