UTA Frontrunner
2008
Running through the heart of Utah, the UTA Frontrunner is a commuter rail line servicing large numbers of passengers every day. A growing ridership on the rail lines, as well as a need to remove congestion on the roads around Salt Lake City, the UTA wanted to offer an enhanced service to enable passengers to use a high-speed WiFi link, to help them check emails or surf the internet over a public open wireless network.
With a proven design through previous projects and PoC's (proof of concept), such as Southern Express, Nomad was more than capable of understanding the needs and requirements from the UTA. With tight deadlines and a fixed budget, Nomad partnered with Wasatch Electric to provide a rollout of the entire UTA Frontrunner fleet within record time, and through use of UTA's trackside fibre network 'capped' with pre-WiMAX radios and 3G HSDPA backhaul.
Nomad's solution involving a full turnkey solution has meant that UTA now have a fully expandable solution, and can communicate with any of their on-board applications at any time. From the outset this service has had phenomenal success, and has meant that UTA have enjoyed sustained high passenger levels.
The result has meant that a significant number of passengers enjoy a quality WiFi service every day, whilst travelling at high speeds along the rail lines. This has increased UTA’s profile in the US as a leader in providing high-speed internet access, whilst creating a base for most cost effective methods of maintaining the Frontrunner system with the Nomad platform.
