The limited express ‘Romancecar’ operated by Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. is extremely popular among tourists. The train, featuring view seats, connects Tokyo and Hakone, famous for its hot springs and views of Mt. Fuji. The new GSE (Graceful Super Express) train, launched in 2018, provides featured services such as free internet connection and GSE-specific contents distribution via Wi-Fi, including live view video. For the wireless internet, HARTING provides a Gigabit Ethernet connection via an inter-car line. The GSE train is the first in Japan to implement an inter-car Gigabit Ethernet connection with copper cable.
The Gigabit inter-car connection is composed of Ha-VIS EtherRail® cable encased in protective conduit, Han HPR® (a modular IP68 rectangular connector for harsh environments), combined with modules for Gigabit Ethernet transmission. Gigabit onboard transmission was implemented with Cat. 7 Ha-VIS EtherRail® cables, Gigabit Ethernet switches and connectors. M12 connectors were used for the cabinet interface, compact and light-weight IP65/67 PushPull RJ45 connectors were utilized for view cameras, whilst RJ45 connectors were employed to connect switches. A seamless, fast Gigabit connection on an inter-car line offers the passengers stable transmission of even large volumes of data, such as large video files, movies and live videos of the front/back view via Wi-Fi.
HARTING provides robust Gigabit Ethernet connectivity products for railways which are compliant with railway standard EN 50 155. They supply a total end-to-end solution, ranging from switches and cables to connectors, which support transmission speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s including Cat. 7. With this wide range of high-performance Gigabit connection products, HARTING continues to help railways with the transmission of increasing volumes of onboard data.
