Deutsche Bahn must convert rail radio to 5G by 2035

Deutsche Bahn has a lot of construction sites right now. Just one of them: It has to renew the railway radio system by 2035. That is also necessary. So far, railway radio has – to put it simply – been based on the 2G mobile communications standard. The local mobile network operators all want to switch off their 2G mobile networks in 2028. The railway wants and must arrive in the 5G age with its new railway radio.

In order for this to be successful, a lot of new radio locations will be built along its more than 33,000 kilometer long rail network. This creates a unique opportunity for the German mobile network operators Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, O2 Telefónica and 1&1. In the future, they could use the masts and equip them with active technology for their networks. It is hoped that customers would then be able to surf the internet more quickly.

The traffic light government had already gotten involved in the issue. In October 2024, Deutsche Bahn, the four mobile network operators and the federal government declared that they wanted to test, develop and apply a 5G supply concept along the route between Hamburg and Berlin. The project partners wanted to gain initial experience with the general renovation of the route.