TRANSPORT The service on board internet connection, free of charge, will be effective this Thursday, December 15, on the Paris-Lyon. Other SNCF lines will follow in 2017…
” Toc, Toc, Toc, SNCF : It can be to discuss Wifi on the train ? “The tweet, signed Axelle Lemaire, secretary of State in charge of the Digital, goes back to the October 17, 2014. A little over two years later, it has finally become reality. Starting this Thursday, 15 December, passengers of the Paris-Lyon line will be able to benefit, free of charge, free Wifi Internet in their TGV launched at 300 km/h.
Even in a tunnel or in the open countryside
Come to inaugurate this new service, referred to as the “TGV Connect “, Guillaume Pépy, head of SNCF, acknowledges that the process has been long. “This is the first request of the travelers in front of all the other [proof with the few tweets below], he begins. TGV Connect is not our first attempt. We had already tried it a decade ago, but the technologies were not quite ripe. “
This time, therefore, this is good. in 20 Minutes was able to test this new service, this Tuesday, in time for a round-trip Paris-Lyon. Despite some cuts, the Internet connection was good on the 430 km route. Even in the midst of the campaign, even when the train crossed a tunnel or going over a bridge. “You don’t realize it like this, but there is work behind,” said Rachel Picard, director general of SNCF Voyages.
200 relay stations along the route
To do that, he first had to install base stations throughout the course. This was the work of Orange chosen by the SNCF at the end of a call to project. “We needed to install a base station every 2-3 km along the routes to ensure the continuity of service between Paris and Lyon, says Luc Barnaud, director-partners and mobile operators including Orange France. Not less. This is the main challenge of the Wi-fi on board. 300 km/h, the train passes from one relay to the other every 15 seconds. “
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The SNCF then transforms the signal picked up by Wi-fi from its own antennas to be installed in the cars. “There are eight installed on the bar car,” says Pierre Matuchet, marketing director of Voyages SNCF. This signal is then aggregated and disseminated in the oars, up to the travelers, via a fiber-optic network. “
300 trains TGV equipped by the end of 2017
Paris-Lyon is only the first stage of TGV Connect. In 2017, the same service will be introduced on the high-speed lines to Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Lille, Rennes and Marseille. “By the end of 2017, 80 % of travellers TGV will be able to enjoy high-speed Connect,” says Rachel Picard. 300 trains will be equipped with Wifi by the end of 2017. To do this, the SNCF will need to install 124 km of optical fiber and 18,000 antennas on all of its trains… And pay 100 million euros.
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The on board internet will not be only for the TGV. “Our promise is that by 2020, 90 % of train journeys in France will be travel connected,” continues Guillaume Pépy. This also applies to the trains of the day. Even the ile-de-france. The 17 kilometres of tunnel on RER line C in Paris, will thus be equipped with antennas to pick up the 4G by the end of 2017.
Why much later that for the Thalys?
The question is in effect. The passengers of the Thalys (Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam) has benefited from five years of the Internet edge. “For the Thalys, we had the choice of another technology,” says Guillaume Pépy, head of SNCF. Not that of the 3G-4G, but that of the satellite. And this technology was rather disappointed. It is not possible to avoid cuts when the train passes under a tunnel.”
The Eurostar (Paris-London) is also equipped with on board Internet for a few months and the arrival of the new trains E-320.
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