Mobile Services to Be Available in Undersea Seikan Tunnel from Next March

June 29, 2018

Sapporo- Mobile communications services will be available from next March in Hokkaido Shinkansen high-speed trains traveling through the undersea Seikan Tunnel, the communications ministry, Hokkaido Railway Co. and three major mobile phone carriers announced Thursday.

Currently, mobile access is only provided at two evacuation areas in the 53.85-kilometer tunnel, which runs under the seabed in the Tsugaru Straits between the northern Japan prefectures of Aomori and Hokkaido.

Equipment to relay radio waves between mobile devices and base stations of the carries will be installed at one-kilometer intervals in the tunnel by the end of March next year, while fiber-optic cables will also be laid, the ministry and the companies said. Jiji Press