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London Underground expands 4G, 5G coverage
More sections of the Tube gain high-speed mobile coverage as roll-out of 4G and 5G continues along further stretches of the Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines
In the latest expansion of its programme to help more Londoners stay connected across the Tube network, Transport for London (TfL) has announced that further sections of the Piccadilly line, Northern line and Victoria line in central London now have 4G and 5G coverage.
TfL carries up to four million passengers a day on the London Underground network, and renewing and preparing the communications network for the future is essential to maintain and improve critical infrastructure. TfL believes legacy systems can slowly become unreliable and disrupt services, leading to delays and an overall negative impact on passenger journeys.
The new mobile coverage has been fulfilled by Boldyn Networks (Boldyn), which has a 20-year contract to create a backbone of mobile and digital connectivity across the network to all ticket halls, platforms and tunnels on the Tube network by 2026.
Mobile coverage on the Northern line has been extended from Euston to Bank on the Bank branch, with the tunnelled section between Balham and South Wimbledon recently getting mobile coverage, as well as Kennington, Oval, Tooting Broadway and South Wimbledon stations.
The latest connected sections means customers in South London travelling along the Northern line from South Wimbledon to Stockwell now have continuous coverage, with work underway to extend coverage in the tunnels down to Morden and up to Kennington by the end of summer. The Bank branch of the Northern line between Euston and Bank is receiving coverage for the first time, with more mobile networks going live along this section in the coming weeks.
On the Victoria line, coverage is now being rolled out between Vauxhall and Pimlico. This follows coverage on the Piccadilly line and Victoria line being extended up to King’s Cross St Pancras earlier in 2025, and the Elizabeth line achieving full 4G mobile coverage in 2024, enabling hundreds of thousands of customers to browse the internet and make calls while travelling along London’s newest rail line.
Major interchange stations such as Green Park and King’s Cross St Pancras, as well as further sections of the Victoria line from Green Park to Brixton, will also start to get high-speed mobile coverage for the first time.
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In the coming months, mobile coverage will begin to be expanded along the Jubilee line, starting at Swiss Cottage and working its way along the line to link with existing coverage at Westminster.
TfL and Boldyn are also working to introduce high-speed 4G and 5G mobile coverage across the whole Tube, Docklands Light Railway and Elizabeth line network, including on the Windrush line between Highbury & Islington and New Cross. Testing was recently completed to ensure the introduction of mobile coverage wouldn’t impact the operation of the Tube network on the sub-service lines. This is said to have meant coverage can start to be introduced to these lines later this year.
All three UK mobile network operators – VodafoneThree, EE and Virgin Media O2 – are taking part in the roll-out of the new network, which will also host the new Emergency Services Network, which, when fully operational, will be able to give first responders immediate access to life-saving data, images and information in live situations and emergencies.
“It’s great that these new sections of the Tube, in particular in south London and the first sections of the Northern line which serve the City of London, are starting to get mobile coverage,” said Rebecca Bissell, TfL director of information technology. “We are committed to bringing high-speed 4G and 5G mobile coverage to the whole of the Tube network, allowing our customers to stay connected while travelling to work, shopping or socialising.
“Further tunnelled sections will be going live in the coming months, and we are working hard to bring the benefits of being able to stay in contact while travelling through our city as quickly as possible to the rest of the network.”
Boldyn Networks UK and Ireland CEO Brendan O’Reilly said: “We have a shared commitment with TfL to transform the travel experience of London customers with high-quality connectivity they can rely on where they live, work and play. Every step in completing this massive project through the hundreds of people working overnight across stations is a testament of this long-term relationship to the benefit of all those living, working and visiting this wonderful city.”
