Member Article

Northern Rail gets £750k broadband investment for Leeds and Bradford commute

A government broadband scheme has invested £750k in Northern Rail’s trains from Leeds and Bradford.

A joint initiative between Northern Rail, Leeds City Council, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority saw an investment of £750k from BDUK (Broadband UK, an arm of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport).

This is the first WiFi installation of its kind for Northern and is the only on train WiFi scheme being funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The WiFi is available on Northern’s electric trains, which operate between Leeds and Skipton, Ilkley and Bradford Forster Square.

With connectivity going live this month, rail users have access to 20MB of free WiFi as well as unlimited entertrainment courtesy of content provider Spoken Ink and stored locally on Icomera’s onboard hardware.

Rob Warnes, planning and programmes director for Northern, said: “We’ve seen a great take up in the on-board WiFi, registering over 100,000 users so far and customers have been telling us they love the speed as well as the content.”

Councillor James Lewis commented on behalf of West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Leeds City Council and the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council: “The SuperConnected Cities programme aims to give access to the latest broadband technologies to everyone – businesses, residents and visitors – across the two cities.

“Introducing free WiFi on-board Northern’s electric trains between Leeds and Bradford is opening up even more opportunities to rail users on the go.”

Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy said: “Providing free WiFi on public transport and in public spaces is just one of the ways we’re boosting connectivity across our cities.

“It is great to see the positive impact this is already having for commuters in Bradford and Leeds.

“With continued investment in superfast broadband we will ensure our cities continue to be attractive places to live, visit and do business in.”

Dave Palmer, managing director of Icomera UK, said: “With this solution, Northern Rail is giving their passengers a much-needed WiFi service, whilst adding even more value with their entertrainment system.

“I’m very pleased to see them making the most of growing technology that will benefit both them and their passengers”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .