LG Uplus announced on the 15th that it has commercialized a dedicated 5G network (Eium 5G) for the airport railroad. With this project, the airport railroad will be the first among domestic railway organizations to apply a dedicated 5G network in practice. The company noted, "This has laid the foundation to accelerate the digital transformation (DX) of the railway industry and the transition to the next-generation railway communication system, 5G-R."
LG Uplus installed dedicated network equipment at the airport railroad's Geomam headquarters and Yongyu vehicle base, and completed the final inspection. Both companies plan to retrofit and implement train operation information transmission and reception equipment based on the dedicated 5G network within the year. To safely operate the communication network against cyberattacks such as hacking, they applied quantum-resistant encryption (PQC) based SIM cards for the first time in Korea.
The airport railroad has been utilizing the LTE-R wireless network for railway operations. This time, it has transitioned to a dedicated 5G network, which is favorable for large data transfers such as video and equipment management based on the Internet of Things (IoT). The airport railroad plans to collect critical data such as failure information and component status generated during train operations for maintenance.
As of the first half of this year, the airport railroad is a mode of transportation used by 286,281 people daily. In May, the cumulative number of passengers surpassed 1.1 billion.
Park Sung-yul, head of LG Uplus' corporate business innovation group (executive director), said, "The construction of the dedicated network for the airport railroad is an integrated project in which LG Uplus participated throughout the entire process, from design to equipment application." He added, "We will strive to provide differentiated customer value in collaboration with the airport railroad, including the future transition to the 5G-R system."