page_title: GSM-R
section_title: UK Mainland
hierarchical_section_title: GSM-R / Railways using GSM-R / UK Mainland
caption_attribution_description: English: DAC Limited GSM-R Trackside Telephone in North Wales during GSM-R network tests.
context_page_description: GSM-R, Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway or GSM-Railway is an international wireless communications standard for railway communication and applications.
  A sub-system of European Rail Traffic Management System, it is used for communication between train and railway regulation control centres. The system is based on GSM and EIRENE – MORANE specifications which guarantee performance at speeds up to 500 km/h, without any communication loss.
  GSM-R could be supplanted by LTE-R, with the first production implementation being in South Korea. However, LTE is generally considered to be a "4G" protocol, and the UIC's Future Railway Mobile Communication System program is considering moving to something "5G"-based, thus skipping two technological generations.
context_section_description: The implementation of over 14,000 km (8,700 mi) of GSM-R enabled railway, intended to replace both its legacy VHF 205 MHz National Radio Network (NRN) and UHF 450 MHz suburban Cab Secure Radio (CSR) systems is now complete as of January 2016. 
  By October 2013, both the West Coast Main Line (WCML) and East Coast Main Line (ECML) to Scotland were covered by GSM-R and UK train operator Northern Rail had implemented GSM-R on a significant number of routes in North and North-West of England.
  In spring 2013, the UK Association of Train Operating Companies' website GSM-R Online announced that the implementation of the Southern half of the UK GSM-R system was complete as the final CA15 section had gone live (The UK GSM-R Project implementation divided the Mainland North and South of a map-line running from the Severn in the West to the Wash on the East coast). Infrastructure and installation work continued North of this division. Britain's GSM-R network was originally expected to be fully operational by 2013, but due to slippage in equipment fitting a later date became more likely. However, an RSSB (Rail Safety & Standards Board) document indicated that the UK's Telecommunications Regulator, Ofcom, was to withdraw the existing NRN 205 MHz frequencies by 2015. Britain's GSM-R network's cost was originally put at £1.2 billion. That cost though did not include the West Coast Main Line (WCML).
  The Cambrian Line ERTMS – Pwllheli to Harlech Rehearsal commenced on 13 February 2010 and successfully finished on 18 February 2010. The driver familiarisation and practical handling stage of the Rehearsal had provided an excellent opportunity to monitor the use of GSM-R voice in operation on this route. The first train departed Pwllheli at 08:53hrs in ERTMS Level 2 Operation with GSM-R voice being used as the only means of communication between the driver and the signaller.
  Network Rail fitted out a test train at Derby it purchased for RSV testing of the GSM-R network. The train was formed from ex Gatwick Express stock. At a cost of £5.9 million, this custom-built machine known as the RSV (Radio Signal Verification) train started monitoring the Newport Synergy scheme and the Cambrian Line.
  On 2 September 2009, the Rugby to Stoke section went live.
  The first train (390,034 on the 09:15 Manchester Piccadilly service to London Euston) to use GSM-R on the south end of the West Coast Main Line ran on 27 May 2009. This was the first vehicle to run in passenger service with GSM-R outside of the Strathclyde trial.
  A fully functional GSM-R system had been on trial on the North Clyde Line in Scotland since 2007. For some years before these trials commenced however, GSM-R had been in use for voice-only purposes – known as the 'Interim Voice Radio System' (IVRS) – in some locations where axle counters are used for train detection, for example parts of the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Wembley.
  As of spring 2016, the only areas of UK Network Rail still currently employing VHF train radio communications are on sections of the Highland and Far North Lines in Scotland, where the RETB (Radio Electronic Token Block) system is utilised, using modified Ofcom frequencies around 180 MHz, having been de-scoped from the National GSM-R plan, due to practical difficulties involved in deploying the GSM-R system in this region.
caption: DAC Limited GSM-R Trackside Telephone in North Wales
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