Mr Bolcek and Mr Čepica presented the conclusions of our study on the future of telecommunications on railways at a workshop of the Ministry of Industry and Trade

One of the declared priorities of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is the development of 5G communication technology in various economic sectors in the Czech Republic. This is not the only reason why the National Recovery Plan has defined related reforms and commissioned 25 studies on related topics. The studies have looked at different aspects of the frequency spectrum available for different applications of 5G technology, as well as different aspects of the digitisation of enterprises or specific applications such as the use of this technology for building communication infrastructure for train transport (FRMCS technology) or the use of 5G networks for crisis management and national security (PPDR) or the use of this technology for the dissemination of linear TV content (5G Broadcast). These expert papers, which were produced last year and are available on the website of the Ministry, are followed by a series of workshops on selected topics, which are intended to present the findings and recommendations of the studies to the professional and general public and thus contribute to the subsequent expert discussion on these topics.

The premiere workshop took place on 1 April 2025 and focused on key aspects of future communication needs related to ensuring safety in rail transport, which is harmonised across Europe and should be ensured through FRMCS technology. Grant Thornton, as the contractor of the study, was represented at the seminar by Zbyněk Bolcek, head of the Advisory partner, Jiří Čepica, head of the Digitization team, and Petr Boček, principal investigator of the study. During the workshop they presented the concept of future use of FRMCS systems in rail transport and scenarios of its implementation. FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System) is a communication technology from the 5G family of standards used for intercommunication between trains, train sets and service personnel. Its elementary aim is to further strengthen safety on the tracks and the possibility to react to crisis situations in real time. Safety is a key issue for the rail transport segment.

“The first ever workshop on the implementation and use of FRMCS technology on railways was, in my opinion, very beneficial. The study and its recommendations are highly valued in the EU-wide debate on this topic and have served as an accelerator for a broader expert discussion, as confirmed by representatives of the ministries. There is much work to be done in Europe and the Czech Republic in the field of standardisation and strategic discussion, and I very much appreciate that our study has become one of the imaginary building blocks, on which expert discussions and work can be further developed. I would like to thank the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Transport, representatives of carriers and the infrastructure manager for their professional cooperation in the preparation of the studies and in the professional discussion at the workshop,” said Zbyněk Bolcek and added that he is looking forward to the next meeting.

All studies, including Study 17 on FRMCS, can be found on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the invitation with a link to a recording of the workshop can be found there.

Communication technology using the GSM-R technology standard is to be replaced by FRMSC, which is one of the application uses of 5G, in the future vision. However, this raises many questions not only in terms of implementation and usability, but also in terms of migration. The Grant Thornton study looked at all these levels and analysed several scenarios, including economic evaluations of the impacts of such scenarios of migration to the higher technology standard, FRMSC (from the original GSM-R).