Every month, almost half a million people access Wi-Fi at 19 of the UK’s busiest mainline stations through Wi-Fi networks managed by Telent equipment.

Network Rail, as the stations’ operator, selected a Telent solution since it uses Wi-Fi 6, which future-proofs the service and provides faster average download speeds than many domestic broadband services.

Included among the 19 stations are London Waterloo, Reading, Leeds, Edinburgh Waverley, Manchester Piccadilly, and Birmingham New Street. Users can connect to the station Wi-Fi service via a ‘#FreeStationWiFi’ SSID, which allows users to connect to Wi-Fi at one of the stations and seamlessly reconnect to Wi-Fi when they arrive at one of the other stations.

In a customer satisfaction survey, 87% of respondents said that the Wi-Fi service enhanced their station experience.

As well as maintaining and managing the 19 networks, Telent’s contracts include the monitoring of around 700 assets which is carried out proactively to ensure the service is continuously available.

The network’s design, installation, testing, and commissioning were carried out by Telent with support from its technology partners GlobalReach and Lumen to provide continuous coverage at each station. So far over 50 miles of cable and more than 700 Wi-Fi 6 access points and switches have been installed.

Operational staff use a different SSID so that they also benefit from the service by enabling station staff to access information quicker and provide better support for passengers, especially during periods of disruption. The upgraded networks also have improved CCTV data links and are used to download on-board data, thereby minimising mobile data costs.

Telent‘s Group Chief Technology Officer, Gerard Donohue, said “The Wi-Fi networks are doing exactly what they were created to do – improve the station experience for the millions of passengers that travel through them, and provides a free of charge service that is vital for the commuters and tourists travelling through the stations every day.

“We’re pleased that Network Rail has the trust in our expertise and experience to continue to deliver following the successful installation and first year of running the Wi-Fi service.”

Since launching, there have been up to 3.5 million sessions in a single month and in October 2023, there were 685,924 subscribers who accessed the secure, click-to-connect service. On average circa 800,000 users per month benefit from the free, child-friendly service.

Network Rail’s head of customer experience and accessibility, Malcolm Pitt, said: “Passengers have come to expect good quality WiFi as part of their journeys and we knew when we embarked on rolling the service out across our stations, it had to be brilliant.

“I’m so pleased that their satisfaction scores are showing how well it is working for them and we hope it will encourage more people to visit our stations for taking trains and as destinations in their own rights.”