The UK's first Wi-Fi train departed from Aberdeen this morning at 7.55am, bound for London. I caught the train at York where it arrived only a couple of minutes late at 12.51pm.
A Wi-Fi train means that passengers and crew alike can enjoy wireless internet access while on board. Though it's already possible to send email and access the web via a mobile phone while on the move, a Wi-Fi network should make it much easier (and quicker) to do these things.
Inside one of the first-class carriages, a few tables were littered with laptops and tiny handheld computers, serious-looking men in grey suits and stripy ties huddling over them. A gaggle of journalists, publicists and a film crew from Anglia TV joined them. The cameraman aside, the carriage had the atmosphere of a cybercafé, albeit one hurtling down rail tracks at over 100mph.
Interested passengers will need to provide their own computers, fitted with the special wireless cards that allow them to access the part of the radio spectrum needed for wireless access. Theoretically, it was a case of switch-on-and-go after that. But my Mac had some initial difficulties connecting and we were at Doncaster before I was properly online.
The train is fitted with a satellite dish on top of its restaurant carriage. This connects to the internet through a range of different networks (including satellite and GPRS) and then distributes the bandwidth throughout the train. Connecting in this way means that if one connection goes down, another automatically replaces it, which allows for a constant connection even at speeds in excess of 100mph.
The service, which is in its early stages, is variable. Some areas provide faster net access than others, but simple tasks, like accessing web pages and sending email, worked quite well throughout my two and a half hour journey. It was also possible to stream audio and download software while on the train. Even when the net access slowed, the connection wasn't broken, allowing me to pick up where I left off - something you may find more difficult if you are trying to connect via a mobile phone.
Thankfully no one was shouting down their mobile phone telling the carriage that they were on the train, but there was considerable excitement when someone managed to stream the Radio 1 site and the nearby passengers complained. And unlike your mobile phone, the Wi-Fi connection doesn't disappear when you enter a tunnel, although it does slow down.
The service will be open to the public from December 1 and will be available, free of charge, to first-class passengers on three daily services on the east coast mainline operated by GNER. A proper service will be available in the New Year. But expect to pay for it: GNER has not yet revealed prices or whether standard-class passengers will also be able to enjoy internet connectivity.
GNER Wi-Fi is supplied by Icomera, a Swedish company who introduced a similar service in Scandinavia earlier this year. The service, which runs between major cities through out the Nordic region, has proved popular with commuters who have been willing to pay the typical £6 supplement on top of normal ticket prices.
There were still some small things to get used to. Managing desk space with laptops, power cables, mobile phones and cups of tea was tricky, especially when the train pitched around at high speed. And the other thing was the disruption to the idle pleasures I'd always associated with train travel: reading my book and looking out of the window felt like things of the past. But crucially, I was able to file this copy before the train pulled into King's Cross, on time and online at 14.54.
