Amtrak Wants To Speed Up Wi-Fi On Boston-To-Washington Line

Amtrak, the publicly funded U.S. railroad service, said on Monday that it’s seeking proposals and bids from contractors for a high-speed Wi-Fi network for its Northeast Corridor service that runs from Boston to Washington.

Amtrak is seeking bids for a proof-of-concept plan with a goal to raise Wi-Fi speeds to 25 Mbps from the current 10 Mbps, with the capability to scale speeds higher.

"We know that our customers want a consistently reliable and fast on-board Wi-Fi experience—something we cannot guarantee today on our busiest trains when hundreds of customers want to go online at the same time—and we want to make that possible," Matt Hardison, Amtrak chief marketing and sales officer, said, according to PC Magazine.

Amtrak’s current Wi-Fi offering restricts streaming media and large data downloads, the magazine said, and the route between Boston and Washington has coverage gaps.

The report said Amtrak made clear that it is seeking bids only for a proof-of-concept and that it may not be able to afford to actually make the improvements.