The Chairman and CEO of Ondas Networks, Inc., Eric Brock, conveyed that his company is “very happy to support” the upcoming deployment deadlines of the American Association of Railroads, in transitioning to new and safer communications technology.

“The railroads work really hard to keep the economy humming, and deploying operational and safety technology is complex. So, I tip my cap to them and of course we are very happy to support their deployment deadlines,” Brock told Federal Newswire.

Federal Newswire reported in May that the AAR told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that its members would comply with 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 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.”

With respect to the Sept. 2025 deadline in place, Brock explained there are “certain supply chain realities and without visibility on deployment plans in the new 900 MHz network, we do see challenges on timelines.”

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). 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,” wrote AAR attorney Michele C. Farquhar in a brief to the FCC.

Farquhar said the AAR expected the transition, which started in 2020 and will require the replacement of approximately 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.

With the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials just having met last week – soon after the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report explaining that mechanical failures and communications technology issues both caused and exacerbated the severity of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment last year – a main focus is on preventing a similar event from happening again.

According to the AAR, since the NTSB released its preliminary findings on the derailment, railroads have applied lessons learned and taken significant steps that bolster safety and address what happened in the February 2023 incident – which included a multi-prong approach to enhance the effectiveness of wayside detectors and improve first responder preparedness and address tank car standards, in addition to the $23 billion that railroads invest annually in rail safety, employee training, infrastructure improvements and technological advancements.

Brock explained how one such technological advancement, the move to 802.16 wireless broadband standards, would enable other safety applications to be used in rail transit.

“The capabilities of the updated network support new and higher bandwidth applications including: Defect detectors, hazard detectors, continuous monitoring of highway grade crossing equipment, support the implementation of redundant paths for Positive Train Control (PTC) base station backhaul and next-generation head-of-train and end-of-train upgrades,” Brock said to Federal Newswire.

Brock also outlined the four year-plus journey of working with the rail industry to prepare for the 900 MHz equipment transition, and Ondas Networks’ investment in it.

“It’s been a tremendous amount of work, as we knew it would be and we have been at it for at least five years now. Our Siemens partnership was established over four years ago. The effort has been and continues to be significant. As a company we have invested over $80 million to get to where we are today. [From having] first introduced the technology and, in collaboration with the AAR have tailored the 802.16t capabilities to meet unique, mission-critical requirements for network performance,” Brock said.

“In fact, the wireless networking experts with the railroads and the AAR did an amazing job in helping to architect the dot16 technology evolution as part of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.16t standard-setting working group. Of course, this worked also entailed extensive field testing and now a transition to network deployment transporting live data traffic, something we have successfully completed. Again, none of this was easy, but we are proud of our effort and committed to provide the railroads a robust and secure mission-critical network with the required ongoing support.”

North America has 136,667 miles of railroad track moving 1.6 billion tons of freight annually.

It is home to six “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.