An interesting link between rail and telecoms has been announced in Russia, where operator Beeline has reportedly signed an agreement to develop digital services alongside Russian Railways, the state-owned railway carrier.
While precise plans have not yet been made available, it seems that the companies hope to look at the development of IT infrastructure using capacity at Russian Railways’ data centres. They hope to make use of the infrastructural capabilities of Russian Railways and Beeline’s approach to digitisation to explore new opportunities for development in the telecommunications and transport sectors.
Most obviously, the partnership should help to improve network coverage for Beeline customers, given Russian Railways’ extensive network of data centres. At the moment, the companies say, this data centre network is used to provide information services and cloud services to both internal and external clients of Russian Railways.
According to statements quoted in the website Data Centre Dynamics, the expansion of the coverage area would make it possible to provide uninterrupted communication services, including for residents of certain regions of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East, where Russian Railways is present.
Beeline has also signed agreements with a number of areas and institutions across Russia to develop and deploy new infrastructure, including base stations and data centres, in the regions.
Russian Railways is also keeping busy. It will apparently be working with Rostelecom, the largest digital services provider in Russia, to develop and deploy quantum communication technologies. It’s certainly a long way from tracks and rolling stock…
