The nation’s three major telecoms yesterday pledged to jointly invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to improve mobile phone reception along the high-speed rail (HSR) line to provide uninterrupted, low-latency service, the Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said yesterday.
The project is part of the company’s “High Speed Rail 2.0” initiative, which includes the procurement of new train cars.
THSRC, Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) last month conducted a “technical pilot test,” confirming that the project would significantly improve signal quality in tunnels.
Photo: Wang Yi-hung, Taipei Times
The companies signed a memorandum of understanding in a ceremony in Taipei to optimize 4G and 5G mobile communication quality across the entire line.
The existing 369 base frequency repeaters along the route, which have been in use for more than 10 years, would be replaced with new “remote radio heads,” while the number of installations would be increased to more than 2,200 units.
The HSR line runs 350km and passes through 52 tunnels or underground sections, totaling 68km, or about 19 percent of the route. The trains operate at close to 300kph at times.
Although telecom improvements have been made in the past, tunnels and underground sections remained a bottleneck.
Since August last year, HSR ridership records have been broken about every two months, while average daily ridership last month reached 241,000 passengers, THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) said.
Large concerts in Taipei and Kaohsiung drove single-day ridership to more than 300,000, he said, adding that the growth is expected to continue until new trains are brought online in the middle of next year, the 20th anniversary of operations.
The willingness of the three telecoms to collaborate on the upgrade sets an example for Taiwan’s transportation sector, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said.
With improved mobile phone service, people would not need to download videos on their digital devices to watch them without disruption, and commuters could no longer blame poor reception for missing calls from their spouses, he said.
The first phase, completed on Feb. 13 through a 1.5km underground section between Taipei and New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), improved signal strength to full connectivity from only limited reception, THSRC said.
The second phase would prioritize upgrades for the Nangang (南港)-Banciao section and tunnel clusters along the route, including six segments accounting for 57 percent of the total underground track: Nangang to Taipei, Taipei to Banciao, Huilong (迴龍) to Taoyuan, Ciashuei (洽水) to Baoshan (寶山), Sihu (西湖) to Tongsiao (通霄) and Shengang (神岡).
The third phase would upgrade the remaining six sections — Taoyuan Station, Hukou (湖口), Sinmiao (新苗), Tongsiao, Zaociao (造橋) and Changhua (彰化) — covering 23 tunnels and 29km of rail, as well as open sections in Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan.
To ensure safe operations, construction only takes place during the short nightly maintenance window about four hours after service ends, THSRC said.
The company said it would also seek to upgrade onboard connectivity across the fleet to Wi-Fi 6 and expand backend bandwidth to meet travelers connectivity needs.
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