4G Metro will put 10 Mbps per train on the Trinity Railway Express (TRE): The 4G Metro system will use ground-based broadband to achieve those results using gear from Colubris and Nortel. The group confirmed that service would be on every car in every train. TRE carries 5,000 passengers daily across a 36-mile route from Ft. Worth to the DFW (Dallas-Ft. Worth) International Airport. Pricing is yet to be determined.
The deal goes beyond this one line: Nortel and Colubris are using this as an opportunity to work more closely together on marketing, sales, and interoperability testing. Nortel's various wide-area network technologies will be used--mesh, WiMax, and optical--and Colubris's bridges, access points, and controllers. 4G Metro is pulling it all together for TRE.
4G Metro wants bragging rights: The press release says the system, which will debut in "early summer" 2007, is expected to the first broadband-enabled service offered by a "major US public railway." The ACE (Altamount Commuter Express) had an Internet link running at low speeds for years. They were scheduled to boost bandwidth last summer, but it apparently still hasn't happened, and the system is currently offline.