Simon Calder says Labour need to move ‘quite a lot quicker’ on providing ‘desperately needed’ train upgrade

Simon Calder has insisted Labour need to move “quite a lot quicker” to deliver the “desperately needed” rollout of wifi on the nation’s trains.

Speaking to GB News, the travel expert reacted to the Government's plans to connect 1,400 trains across the UK to low-earth satellites.

Aiming to replace current mobile networks, a Government source said the plan would: “rocket boost connectivity on every main line train in Britain over the next few years, tackling both slow speeds and irritating not-spots”.

Mr Calder said the upgrades would be “desperately needed” but raised concerns about the expected time to complete them.

“There are reports that it could take five years. I think we need it quite, quite a lot quicker than,” he stressed.

“The other problem is that it's all going to be pretty patchy because on some trains it will work great and on some it won't.”

He emphasised the importance of fixing the issue, the current parlous state of connectivity on British trains.

“The list of operators where the wifi is actually regarded as quite good is quite short, and the list where it's terrible is very, very long.”

Despite these concerns, Mr Calder was convinced that “people will be welcoming this”.

“I think it really is important as something to try to reduce the billions of pounds in subsidy that taxpayers are paying each year to keep the railways running.

“If you can attract more people on board, then you cut that subsidy. And it's a really good way to get people out of their cars.

“Take a journey such as Manchester to London, about four hours by car, but you could say to people that it could be just a bit over two hours, and you will have fantastic connectivity all the way on the train.

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“So whether you want to stream GB News or whether you want to, like me, pretend to do some work, it's going to be a much, much better proposition,” the travel expert exclaimed.

“It should provide good connectivity across quite a lot of the country. And crucially, it shouldn't make too much difference how many people are on your train at the moment.”

Explaining how the new system will work, Mr Calder detailed what may be an awkward necessity for Labour.

“The Government, interestingly, is perhaps being a little quiet about the fact that this involves Elon Musk's Starlink enterprise.

“The plan is to connect trains to that and to have another bit of the project called Project Reach.

“This is a system where you have fibre optic cables laid in tunnels and in deep cuttings, the sorts of places that even Elon Musk's satellite signal can't get to.”

Relations between the Labour Government and the billionaire X owner have deteriorated amid mounting rows over online censorship, free speech and Britain’s regulatory regime.

Labour figures have also been critical of Mr Musk’s support for political causes in the UK, such as the Unite the Kingdom rally.