The nation’s largest railroad trade association told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) its members will make a Sept. 2025 deadline to transition to new communications technology, enabling freight trains to finally access modern, high-bandwidth software applications that will improve safety.
In comments submitted to the FCC on May 2, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) wrote that its members planned to "complete the transition..by the Sept 14, 2025 deadline" and that they would invest $110 million in equipment to accommodate the new standards, which it would move the industry off “1980’s technology.”
Currently, freight rail operators in North America communicate using low-speed 900 MHz two-way radios, akin to dial-up internet. And their communications don’t conform to common “802.16” wireless broadband standards developed to secure private wireless networks in other industries.
“The railroads agreed to the 900 MHz.. transition plan and have already made a significant investment in rail safety innovation with the new wider narrowband channels…and new waveforms (like 802.16),” wrote AAR attorney Michele C. Farquhar in a brief to the FCC. "AAR has already spent more than $2 million over the past two years on testing and working to adapt the new 802.16 standards to the unique operational requirements of the rail industry."
Farquhar said the AAR expected the transition, which started in 2020 and will require the replacement of approximetely 9,500 radios, to "improve existing rail network capacity constraints across its narrowband spectrum assets and accommodate new safety applications."
In May 2020, the FCC voted unanimously to transition the AAR's existing 900 MHz band, used by the freight railroads for their legacy Advanced Train Control System (ATCS), so it could enable broadband.
Ondas Networks and Siemens Mobility have since partnered to develop and sell freight operators new wireless network technology and radios that meet the modern standards.
In Jan. 2023, the companies announced their first railroad order for radios in anticipation of the 2025 transition.
North America has 136,667 miles of railroad track moving 1.6 billion tons of freight annually.
It is home to seven “Class I” freight railroad companies-- Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway, the Montreal-based Canadian National Railway, Calgary-based Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Jacksonville-Based CSX Transportation, Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern Railway and the Omaha-based Union Pacific Railroad. All are members of AAR.
