OAKLAND, Calif.—Four companies have been selected to take part in a trial that will bring mobile broadband to commuters on a 171-mile train corridor served by the Bay Area Rapid Transit/Capital Corridor Joint Powers Authority.
The Capital Corridor stretches between San Jose, San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif. About 1.26 million people rode the trains in 2005, according to the CCJPA.
The CCJPA made a request for proposals in March and received 11 responses; the four companies selected were wireless developer Concourse Communications, Internet service provider EarthLink Inc., wireless network operator Nomad Digital, and ATCI, which leads a consortium to deliver satellite Internet service.
“We were genuinely surprised and gratified by the large number of qualified proposals that we received from major wireless industry members,” said Eugene Skoropowski, managing director of the CCJPA. “We continue to believe there will be incredible benefits from this type of broadband mobile network for our riders and our daily train operations.”
According to the CCJPA, services that the broadband network will support include Internet browsing, access to e-mail, access to private corporate networks, file uploads and downloads, video and audio streaming, electronic ticketing and management of passenger information, Voice over Internet Protocol for placing and receiving voice calls, closed circuit television for security monitoring and transmission of train diagnostic information.
