Because of the recent interest in cell phones and railway
communications, the following is posted.

In the 1969 the Penn Central introduced Metroliner premium passenger
train service between NYC and Washington, DC. (It was developed by
the Pennsylvania Railroad and the trains originally wore PRR keystone
logos. They entered service after the Penn Central merger and
continued into Amtrak*.)

A feature of the new trains was onboard telephone service. Passengers
could directly dial outward calls, and 'ashore' subscribers could
telephone the train and have a passenger paged to the phone. The
phones were located in a booth in the lounge car. In 1969, direct
dial from pay phones, especially with Touch Tone, was still a novelty.

The system used a pioneer approach of cellular technology, including
automatic locating of the train for incoming calls.

A Bell Laboratories Record magazine article describes the service
technology. Interesting reading.

http://long-lines.net/tech-equip/mob...9/076-077.html


*Amtrak eventually replaced the original MU cars with refurbished
locomotive hauled cars. Some of the original cars remain in service
as cab cars for Amtrak push pull trains, such as on the route to
Harrisburg. The Metroliner design inspired Amfleet, all built by
Budd.