<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> As the Australian rail industry continues to embrace GSM-R, UK experts say the technology will soon become obsolete. Martin Baggott* explores the implications. </span> <p>So, GSM-R is to “become obsolete and unsupported by suppliers, as expected from 2024 onwards”. This is the definitive statement made in <em>The Future Railway, </em>a publication sub-titled <em>The Industry’s Rail Technical Strategy 2012,</em> produced by the Strategy Industry Leadership Group (TSLG), a RSSB facilitated cross-industry expert body in the UK.</p><p>Is the UK relevant to us in Australia? Well, given the market there is 20 times bigger than Australia, and suppliers won’t bother with our small market by itself, we had better take notice.</p><div>But what is GSM-R. Put simply, a dedicated mobile communications bandwidth for railways supporting digital transmission but using 2G technology. It was the latest thing 20 years ago when here in Australia we were using VHF like the technology used in the second world war. Then we went to UHF, more reliable, clearer and better coverage. Then digital, using GSM-R.
