Posted: 30th Nov, 2010 By: MarkJ
A train ticket sales website,
MyTrainTicket, has released a new
UK Map that claims to reveal the country's widespread availability of onboard wireless ( Wi-Fi ) broadband internet access services. The websites own map is quite small, although we have posted a higher quality and somewhat edited version below (still not ideal though).
Where Wi-Fi is offered, the service is available on either all or most trains and gives passengers the option of accessing the internet for business or leisure use while travelling. By contrast,
European provision is patchy.
Alistair Lees, Managing Director of MyTrainTicket.co.uk, said:
"Wi-Fi, along with other onboard services, is increasingly identified by passengers as an important reason for choosing rail over other forms of transport.
Just as Britain led the way in establishing railways in the Industrial Revolution, so the train companies are now at the forefront of the digital revolution, giving passengers the ability to access the internet, emails, media and games while travelling by train. Britain is well ahead of its European counterparts."
Italy,
Spain,
Ireland,
Holland and
Austria have no (or very limited) on-train Wi-Fi while coverage in
France,
Germany and
Belgium is limited to a small number of train services.
The cost of accessing onboard Wi-Fi, where it is available, was also found to be highly variable. All
Train Operating Companies (TOCs) provide free access to
First Class commuters, yet only three extend this to
Standard Class. Elsewhere the charge for Standard Class passengers varies
from £1.50 per journey to £5 for an hour.