Black Spots To Go
Illawarra Mercury
Monday March 7, 2005
AN ambitious plan to eliminate mobile phone black spots along the scenic South Coast rail line could soon deliver rail commuters uninterrupted reception between Wollongong and Sydney.
Telstra is negotiating with several State Government departments to place mobile phone transmitters at railway stations between Wollongong and Sydney.If approved, it could allow commuters to talk on the phone on train journeys without their connection cutting out.The plan, which could cost millions of dollars, could start to roll out as soon as July.It would have major implications for the Illawarra, which is Australia's largest commuter corridor.About 15,000 commuters travel from Wollongong to Sydney each day and 3000 Sydney commuters travel to Wollongong.Telstra Country Wide Illawarra Area general manager Mark McKenzie said while coverage in parts of the journey was good, the dramatic landscape and mountains meant calls cut out in some areas - known as shadowing - or commuters were simply out of transmission range."The aim is to have continuous coverage so that you can jump on at Wollongong and have a phone conversation all the way to Sydney ... rather than having it cut in and out," he said.Plans are also afoot to improve mobile phone reception along other commuter corridors including the Princes Hwy south of Nowra and on Picton Rd. Mr McKenzie said the plan to improve mobile reception for train commuters was sparked by the Waterfall train disaster, in which seven people died.He said mobile coverage had been poor and the network had been clogged because of the large number of calls being made after the disaster.Survivors who alerted authorities reported having to walk up to 200m before they received any coverage."There was very poor mobile coverage where the crash site was and there was very limited coverage up there at that section of the highway," he said."Mobile phones are not an emergency service. While they work in a lot of places and people use them for emergencies, they are not by definition or legislation an emergency service (but) Telstra's aim is to provide a good service, particularly on main roads and railway coverage."Telstra technicians had travelled the train line to test signal strength, and similar projects were being examined across the state.In most cases microcells - small transmitters costing about $50,000 each to install - could be placed on existing infrastructure at the stations.However, mobile phone towers - which cost anywhere from $250,000 to $1 million for each tower - might need to be placed in the bush if station transmitters were not adequate. The company was negotiating with RailCorp and the Rail Infrastructure Corporation to approve the project.In the coming year Telstra also planned to improve mobile coverage on the Princes Hwy south of Nowra, the Kiama bends and Picton Rd."Coverage on the Picton Rd is patchy. It's good in parts and patchy in others. It's one of the spots that we are consistently trying to get both a site and the funding to provide better coverage on because it's an arterial road," Mr McKenzie said.
© 2005 Illawarra Mercury
