Wireless broadband connections to trains are multiplying fast and train operators are using them for more than merely providing Wi-Fi to passengers. These links can also help provide operational applications, to cut costs, improve services and generally put a smile on board members’ faces.

BWCS’s second conference of 2014, ‘Connectivity for CCTV and Rail Operations’ will examine the growth of these new services, which range from real-time CCTV surveillance to live train diagnostic reporting. The conference will take place during the 5-6 November.

BWCS CEO Graham Wilde said: "We are just beginning to see the birth of these services. It is important for CCTV and for cost-saving applications to get the data off the trains quickly.

"However, it is therefore even more important that operators can do something clever and worthwhile with the data once it is downloaded. This conference will explore how this can be done and what the end results can be."

BWCS projects that the total value of benefits from train-based broadband services in Europe alone, including Wi-Fi access charges, revenues from passenger upgrades and modal shift increases, as well as operational savings, could reach €2.35 billion by 2021.

The event has already attracted train operators and suppliers from around the world and is set to be the only one to focus directly on the issues facing train companies, transport groups and rail authorities as they struggle to make trains and stations more secure, gain direct access to on-train CCTV images, as well as develop new cost-saving systems to capitalise on the emerging generation of IP cameras and the growing wireless broadband connections.

For more information, please contact BWCS.