Mobile coverage for tunnels on Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs railway line was switched on this week, NSW transport minister Gladys Berejiklian has announced.
Optus was the lead carrier on the project, which involved the roll out of 18km of cabling. Telstra and Vodafone also participated.
“It is unbelievable it has taken this long. The limited coverage through tunnels has been a frustration to our customers for many years,” Berejiklian said.
“Optus first approached the then State Rail Authority in 1996 to install infrastructure to provide mobile phone coverage in the Sydney CBD underground rail network, but Labor failed to do anything about it,” the minister said.
In 2012 the telcos announced coverage on the North Shore and Western lines, and on all the City Circle line in April last year.
“It’s been a complex project, ensuring continuous coverage along Sydney’s train lines and tunnels, but we know how important it is for our customers to be connected anywhere, on any device, and in particular, get the most out of their time spent commuting,” Vic McClelland, managing director of Optus Networks, said in a statement.