South Link Line tunnels now have mobile service

ALL SYSTEMS GO: Mobile service starts today in some of the tunnels, while a telecom firm is working on drones to provide mobile coverage during disasters

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 30, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter, in Taitung County

Passengers traveling on the South Link Line (南迴鐵路) can look forward to uninterrupted mobile

phone service while passing through some of its tunnels after two base stations along the route are activated today, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.

Two signal stations at Puan (菩安) and Gujhuang (古莊), about 8km apart, would serve about 550,000 passengers on the railway line annually, the commission said, adding that travelers could experience preliminary results of improved mobile phone reception along the South Link.

About 40km of the South Link Line is inside 35 tunnels along the 98.2km route, and prior to the activation of the base stations, mobile service was unavailable for about one-and-a-half hours of the travel time, it said.

The NCC started coordinating with the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), telecoms and other agencies to improve reception and expand coverage along the line, it said.
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