VIA-Rail trains to get high-speed wireless internet access

[chateauricher]

VIA-Rail (http://viarail.ca/), Canada'a passenger train service, in a "big move to grab a bigger piece of eastern Canada's travel market," announced yesterday (17 Nov) that "it will equip all trains on its busiest route with high-speed wireless internet access" within a year [wow], according to an article in today's Montréal Gazette.

This "move is significant because it gives (VIA-Rail) a technological leg up on its main competitors, namely airlines and bus companies, which have not yet offered their customers Internet access while they travel."

"VIA said it will roll out the fast Internet service on all 120 train cars and lounges along the Québec City-Windsor corridor within one year (...). All passengers will get access to the service no matter what class they're in (...)." [yeah]

The service will use "a cellular system provided by Bell Mobility and satellite links. (...) VIA's customers will (be able to) connect at speeds ranging from 500 kB to 3 MB per second (...)." [tup]

For more info, go to ...
http://viarail.ca/cgi-bin/AffichageWebComm?Commande=select&langue=en&IDX=2&pk_webcomm=567

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It would seem passenger rail service is alive and well in Canada !!! Eat that, Amtrak ! [swg] [:P]

[CrazyDiamond]

QUOTE: Originally posted by chateauricherIt would seem passenger rail service is alive and well in Canada !!! Eat that, Amtrak ! [swg] [:P]

Depends on what you call Eastern Canada.....we live in Atlantic Canada, and no one can get more east than us, and Via Rail runs only one train a day, 6 days a week. The train departing from Halifax (the beginning of the line) leaves mid-day so hardly anyone from business is gonna want to use that. It makes so few stops along the way through Atlantic Canada that I would still have to rent a car to get to my final destination.....I guess at the end of the day, we don't have the numbers to really drive the business. Gee maybe we should modify a bunch of subway cars to get power from overhead, beg the govt for investment and start a bunch of mini-shortline passenger routes. [:p]

....oh I forgot....no wireless for us.