Romania Ranks 7th in Europe and Asia for Fastest Onboard Train Wi-Fi
Bucharest, The Gulf Observer: Romania has secured the 7th position in a ranking of the fastest Wi-Fi connections available onboard trains across 18 countries in Europe and Asia, according to a recent analysis by the internet speed testing service Ookla.
The study highlights that Romania’s trains offer a median download speed of 12.46 Mbps, making onboard Wi-Fi more than twice as fast as Italy (4.78 Mbps) and Poland (4.72 Mbps), and approximately 12 times faster than trains in the United Kingdom (1.09 Mbps). Compared to the country at the bottom of the ranking, Norway, Romania’s Wi-Fi is over 30 times faster, Profit.ro reported.
Despite Romania’s strong performance, Sweden tops the ranking with a median download speed of 64.58 Mbps, followed by Switzerland (29.79 Mbps), Ireland (26.33 Mbps), and the Czech Republic (23.36 Mbps). Swedish trains also lead in upload speeds, posting a median of 54.95 Mbps, over 14 times faster than Romania’s 3.83 Mbps.
Ookla noted that Wi-Fi speed and stability on trains vary widely due to differences in network infrastructure, bandwidth, and Wi-Fi standards. Countries that treat mobile connectivity onboard trains as essential railway infrastructure and invest accordingly provide passengers with considerably better experiences.
Sweden, in particular, has seen a dramatic improvement in onboard connectivity, after years of stagnation at around 2 Mbps download and 0.7–1.9 Mbps upload speeds.
The analysis acknowledged the engineering challenges involved: “A train carriage is a metal Faraday cage moving through tunnels, cuttings, and rural not-spots, where cellular handovers are frequent and fragile. Rail operators view onboard connectivity as a lever for revenue, loyalty, and operations, while policymakers increasingly frame it as part of the digital backbone of national transport systems.”
Despite these challenges, most countries are moving toward faster onboard connections as new technologies make high-speed internet possible even while trains are in motion.
