East Midlands Trains to trial Nottingham satellite system

This is the hope of global navigations firm, Nottingham Scientific Limited (NSL), which is in the process of developing a pre-commercial device to explore the potential of satellite systems within the rail sector.

‘The technology now exists for the rail sector to have all the information ready in the same way as an air traffic control centre,’ said Mark Dumville, general manager at NSL, ‘But we need to demonstrate that it can be viable on a large-scale.’

NSL’s research is part of a project known as the Intelligent Railway via Integrated Satellite Services (IRISS) which is being done in collaboration with East Midlands Trains (EMT) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Over the next six months, the group is planning to complete a prototype test bed that will integrate terrestrial and satellite-based communication services into a unified device fitted to the roof of a train.

If the demonstration is successful, Dumville hopes that train operators throughout the country will be able to gain access to live CCTV, passenger information, position and systems maintenance feeds as the train is on the move.