Ballarat railway line commuters will enjoy better mobile phone coverage by the end of this year, with the state government signalling the start of an $18 million project to eliminate mobile phone blackspots.
Mobile coverage will be improved along the state’s five busiest regional rail corridors as part of the Regional Rail Connectivity project, which is being funded by the state government in conjunction with Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.
Mobile reception repeaters, which are designed to boost in-train coverage, are already being installed in VLocity trains.
The three telcos will build five new mobile towers along the Ballarat railway corridor in the next two years.
The state government says mobile phone coverage will be significantly boosted, particularly between Bacchus Marsh and Ballan. Once the reception repeaters are installed, mobile phone coverage will be boosted to 95 per cent for Telstra customers, with the mobile phone towers expected to further boost coverage to almost 100 per cent.
Public Transport Users Association Ballarat spokesman Ben Lever welcomed the “long-overdue” announcement, with commuters having campaigned for several years for improved mobile phone coverage.
Mr Lever said connectivity between Melton and Warrenheip was currently “really unreliable” and he hoped the new towers and repeaters would alleviate the problem.
“Good mobile connectivity is really important for allowing people to make productive use of their commutes, like working or studying,” Mr Lever said.
“This will be a big benefit to existing commuters, but hopefully it will also encourage more people to get out of their cars and reduce traffic congestion.”
Small Business, Innovation and Trade Minister Philip Dalidakis said the project would be a massive win for Ballarat line commuters.
“Regular commuters spend up to 20 hours per week on regional trains and we need to keep them connected so they can keep in touch with their loved ones and use their travel time productively,” Mr Dalidakis said.
The state government announced the project in November, 2015, intending for construction of the mobile phone towers to start in mid-2016.
Telstra area general manager Steve Tinker said the organisation was proud to be working with the state government to “bring this project to life”.
“We know that increased coverage is a priority for our customers and for businesses in regional Australia – and that is exactly what this project delivers,” Mr Tinker said.
