Future Railway Mobile Communications System
(FRMCS)

Future Railway Mobile Communications System (FRMCS) is a project driven by the International Railway Union (UIC), a worldwide railway association, dedicated to define the successor of GSM-R for a new railways digital radio system.

The UIC initiated a first investigation in 2010, which let to the publication of a first set of user requirements in October 2010. The requirements were based on a broadband systems for driver look-ahead CCTV and real-time passenger video information, whereas the current GSSM-R system is still based on voice and narrowband data.

More detailed user requirements were published in 2016. These user requirements were fed into the standardization body, 3GPP. Hence, FRMCS will be based on 3GPP-based 4G/5G communications solutions.

The FRMCS is expected to make use of the (extended) GSM-R frequency range of (873)876 – 880 /(918)921 – 925 MHz for critical communications and possibly access other spectrum frequency ranges for other (non-critical) applications.

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