GSM for railways (GSM-R)

GSM for Railways (GSM-R) is a Europe-wide interoperable and standardized system platform for voice and data communications in railroads. It is based on the GSM standard and was specified by the ETSI committeeEP- RT(ETSI Project Railway Telecommunications) especially for railway-specific requirements.

The features of GSM-R include, for example, the elimination of channel selection, priority handling, group and collective calling, and high availability. In addition, GSM-R can be used for train protection, train, shunting, tunnel and construction radio, as well as control and signaling systems. The GSM-R system platform offers the possibility of remote diagnostics for monitoring the switch function, the transmission of timetables and much more.

GSM-R occupies the frequency ranges between 876 MHz and 880 MHz for the uplink and the frequencies between 921 MHz and 925 MHz for the downlink. A total of 19 200 kHz channels are available. Network expansion is taking place along the train routes.