• Espanya-Europa Fira is one of the first stretches of indoor railway in the world to be equipped with commercial 5G technology
• The first pilot project of the 5G Railway Lab is a 3D volumetric assistant with information about the MWC21
• The infrastructure is permanently installed so that FGC and other companies can test new 5G applications in a real setting

This Sunday the inaugural journey of the 5G Railway Lab, one of the first 5G railway laboratories in the world, took place between the Plaça Espanya and Europa Fira stations of the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC). FGC, Mobile World Capital Barcelona, the Generalitat de Catalunya and Vodafone have installed commercial 5G coverage, an initiative that forms part of the network of laboratories for testing this technology and that promotes 5G Barcelona in the city.

The inaugural journey was attended by the Vice President of the Generalitat and Minister of Digital Policies and Territory, Jordi Puigneró; the chairwoman of FGC, Marta Subirà, the CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Carlos Grau, the CEO of GSMA Ltd., John Hoffmann, the Vodafone regional director for Catalonia and Aragon, Diego Presa; the third deputy mayor of Barcelona City Council, Laia Bonet, and the sixth deputy mayor of L’Hospitalet del Llobregat City Council, David Quirós.

In his speech, Vice President Puigneró emphasised that “Catalonia is once again a pioneer in the field of 5G deployment with this railway laboratory that combines traditional and digital infrastructure and that affects two of this century’s strategic areas for society and that are absolute priorities for the new Department of the Vice-Presidency of the Government: mobility and digitalisation”.

The 5G Railway Lab project has two objectives: on the one hand, to explore industrial solutions in rail mobility and logistics and the management and control of passenger and merchandise movement. And on the other, to seek out and test disruptive solutions that have a direct impact on the FGC user and that help to improve their functional and entertainment experience.

5G coverage is available at the Plaça Espanya, Magòria-La Campana, Ildefons Cerdà and Europa Fira FGC statins, with coverage on the platforms and in the departure and arrival halls of the stations and also all along the route to the Europa Fira station and the Fira 2 venue.

Also, the attendees have been able to test a first technological solution with 5G: a volumetric assistant in the form of an augmented reality hologram welcoming them to the MWC Barcelona 21. This solution is testing the delivery of high-quality content from the cloud, and the Massive IOT at times of high public footfall in the stations and on the trains using the 5G network.

Marta Subirà, chairwoman of FGC emphasised that “Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat is the MWC’s means of transport of reference for its visitors, and from now on it will also be known for having set up one of the first 5G laboratories on the stretch between Pl. Espanya and Europa|Fira. The new features provided by 5G will improve the travel experience of our customers, with uninterrupted, faster connections, and also improve the operation and functionality of our trains. 5G allows us to be more efficient because we will be able to anticipate more situations and act to deal with them. Therefore, 5G in Railways is not only a fundamental technological improvement on an operational level, but also allows us to provide an even better service to users by offering high-quality public transport, continuing to fight climate change and helping to improve air quality in our cities”.

According to Carlos Grau, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona: “5G is an enabling technology for new, yet to be discovered services. One of the sectors with the greatest potential for this development of new applications is mobility. A sustainable and well-connected transport network is a fundamental element for any capital, and this is precisely what this project is all about”.

Likewise, Laia Bonet, third deputy mayor of Barcelona City Council, remarked that “with projects like this, Barcelona wants to become a European benchmark in the development of 5G technology. This is becoming possible thanks to the partnership between public and private actors, between the Catalan and municipal administrations, within the framework of the 5G Barcelona initiative. The impact of 5G on the economy and the lives of citizens will be enormous. We need to develop this technology to make our companies more efficient and competitive, but also to ensure that this technology offers new opportunities and does not generate new inequalities”.

For his part, Diego Presa, the Vodafone regional director for Catalonia and Aragon, commented that “the welcome to this MWC is provided by the first volumetric assistant in the form of an augmented reality hologram, a first step in testing massive public access to stations and sending high quality content through the cloud. A solution that benefits from the capabilities of the 5G network and that we anticipate will become the indispensable tool for control and identification in the accesses to places such as transport hubs, trains, massive events…”

Finally, John Hoffman, CEO of GSM Ltd., highlighted that “we have known the power of connectivity for a long time, but it has certainly become more evident in the last year. Innovative projects such as the 5G Railway Lab bolster MWC Barcelona as the world hub for connectivity and technology, a place where the future can be rebuilt, reinvented and reimagined. GSMA is proud to be a part of this”.

In search of technological solutions for mobility

This Sunday was also the last day of the “5G Smart Railway Hackathon”, an international hackathon promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Vodafone and WorldStartup within the framework of the 5G Railway Lab, with the aim of finding innovative ideas that make the most of the advantages offered by 5G technology to improve rail transport. The winning project is Nife Labs, with an augmented-reality solution for improving the FGC costumer’s experience that will be implemented taking advantage of the indoor 5G coverage of the Pl. Espanya-Europa Fira stretch.

The inaugural journey of the 5G Railway Lab took place just hours before the start of the MWC Barcelona 2021, the world’s most important technology event, being held in Barcelona from 28 June to 1 July.