Resumen
Possible characteristics of railway communication networks at the stage of coverage growth as potential successors of GSM-R are analyzed in the paper. Communication in such networks can be provided by terrestrial base stations and/or by mobile satellite communication terminals on the trains. The effect of improving the performance of such networks using inter-train communication and, thereby, creating a mesh-network and DTN, is analyzed. The proposed method for assessing andcomparing the efficiency of networks is based on a close-to-real railway schedule. This method can be applied to any existingrailway section and schedule. Such an assessment can serve as a preliminary basis for the technical and commercial choice of the communication configuration in new 4G and 5G networks for railways, and as QoS feasibility assessment.