The Role of 5G in Railway Applications

The traditional railway communication system is a mixture of different networking technologies. Due to the high mobility and speed of trains, it is very difficult for the traditional network to provide stable services. 5G provides a very high data rate with very low latency, which can be utilized for various applications. In this chapter, we address the importance of 5G for railway monitoring, railway transportation services, and railway passenger services applications. We will also address the issues and challenges for the implementation and deployment of the 5G-R network for railway communication and railway monitoring services. The chapter deals with 5G-R requirements, propagation characteristics, and the physical environment. 5G offers a variety of services to users with different requirements in terms of delay speed, reliability, mobility, and the ability to extend to speeds of more than 500 km/hr in applications within the transportation system.