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Independent reference on the Future Railway Mobile Communication System
FRMCS ATLAS

Knowledge · reviewed 02 Oct 2026

FRMCS explained

Contents
  1. Why a successor to GSM-R
  2. Who is involved
  3. What this page does not claim

Short answer

FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System) is the planned successor to GSM-R for operational railway radio communication. It builds on 3GPP mobile technologies and is specified through the cooperation of railway and telecom standards organisations.

Brief overview. For the comprehensive guide for decision-makers and engineers, read What is FRMCS?.

Why a successor to GSM-R

GSM-R is based on 2G GSM technology. The railway sector initiated FRMCS to move operational communication onto a technology base with a longer support horizon and greater capacity for data-centric applications [1].

Who is involved

  • UIC coordinates the railway user requirements and the FRMCS programme from the railway perspective [1].
  • ETSI TC RT works on the railway-specific system specifications [2].
  • 3GPP standardises the underlying mobile communication features, including mission-critical services [3].
  • ERA handles the European regulatory side through the interoperability framework [4].

What this page does not claim

Specific release numbers, dates and deployment timelines change over time. Check the Standards page for versioned, source-linked entries rather than relying on summary text.

Cite this page

FRMCS explained. FRMCS Atlas. /knowledge/frmcs-explained (last reviewed 2026-10-02). Markdown version

Related

Sources

  1. [1]FU-7100 – FRMCS User Requirements Specification — UIC, 5.0.0 (19 Feb 2020)
  2. [2]ETSI TS 103 764 — System Architecture — ETSI TC RT, v1.1.1
  3. [3]3GPP TS 22.289 – Mobile communication system for railways (ETSI TS 122 289) — 3GPP / ETSI, V19.0.1
  4. [4]CCS TSI Appendix A – mandatory specifications (ETCS B4 R1, GSM-R B1 MR1, FRMCS B0) — ERA