Summary

• The trial ran aboard a PKP Intercity service travelling at up to 160km/h between Kozłów, Warsaw, and Tczew.
• Eutelsat tested switching between low-Earth-orbit satellite coverage and terrestrial communications.
• Operational rail systems as well as passenger connectivity could benefit where terrestrial mobile coverage remains inconsistent.

Eutelsat has completed its first OneWeb low-Earth-orbit connectivity trial on a live Polish intercity train, testing whether satellite capacity can fill coverage gaps as rail operators put more passenger and operational systems online.

The trial took place aboard a PKP Intercity long-distance service running between Kozłów, Warsaw, and Tczew at speeds of up to 160km/h. ACO Solutions led the systems integration, HispaSat participated as distribution partner, and the installation used Kymeta’s rail-certified terminal.

Rather than treating satellite connectivity as an isolated replacement for terrestrial networks, the project examined switching between OneWeb’s LEO constellation and existing ground-based communications. European routes repeatedly move between dense urban coverage, rural areas, cuttings, and other locations where no single network performs consistently.

Passenger internet is the most visible application, but rail operators are also connecting fleet monitoring, diagnostics, staff systems, information services, and other operational technology. As those systems become more dependent on continuous data exchange, connectivity begins to look more like transport infrastructure than an onboard amenity.

Rail connectivity becomes operational infrastructure

Operational applications set a higher bar than passenger Wi-Fi because occasional interruptions that cause inconvenience to travellers can be more serious when a railway system depends on the same connection for monitoring or coordination.

A hybrid network therefore has to handle latency, handover, availability, cybersecurity, and traffic priorities as well as basic throughput. The Eutelsat trial examined transitions between satellite and terrestrial networks rather than merely recording a peak download speed, which is closer to the technical problem operators would face in production.

The equipment also has to survive a demanding physical environment. Roof-mounted terminals are exposed to weather, vibration, electrical constraints, and maintenance requirements long before the satellite service behind them becomes useful.

LEO changes satellite mobility

Traditional geostationary satellite services introduce higher latency because signals travel much farther from Earth, while LEO constellations operate with more satellites at lower altitudes. That makes them better suited to mobility use cases where response times and continued coverage matter.

Eutelsat became an integrated geostationary and LEO operator after combining with OneWeb in 2023. The company is also involved in Europe’s future IRIS² secure-connectivity programme, placing rail trials inside a broader effort to expand satellite communications beyond specialist and remote applications.

Adding LEO coverage does not make railway connectivity simple. Operators still have to install and maintain terminals across fleets, integrate connections with onboard systems, manage telecoms contracts, prioritise applications, and protect operational data as it crosses multiple infrastructure providers.

The commercial case will vary by route as well. A heavily used service running through strong terrestrial coverage presents a different problem from a regional or cross-border route with extended mobile dead zones. Satellite is consequently more likely to become another layer in the communications architecture than a uniform replacement for terrestrial networks.

Fleet deployment is the harder test

The Polish trial establishes that the equipment can operate on a live train at normal service speeds, but it does not yet establish the economics or reliability of deployment across a fleet. Operators would need longer datasets covering weather, congestion, terminal durability, repeated handovers, and maintenance before treating the service as dependable infrastructure.

Procurement also has to account for the speed at which communications technology changes. Rail equipment bought today may remain in service through several generations of mobile and satellite networks, which favours architectures able to move traffic between providers and technologies rather than locking every application to a single connection.

Eutelsat’s hybrid design reflects that reality. The useful role for OneWeb may be to provide another route when terrestrial networks are weakest, allowing the satellite layer to become increasingly invisible as the underlying system matures.