driver and the signaller. Network Rail fitted out a test train at Derby it purchased for RSV testing of the GSM-R network. The train was formed from ex Gatwick Express stock. At a cost of £5.9 million, this custom-built machine known as the RSV (Radio Signal Verification) train started monitoring the Newport Synergy scheme and the Cambrian Line. On 2 September 2009, the Rugby to Stoke section went live. The first train (Virgin Trains West Coast 390034 on the 09:15 Manchester Piccadilly service to London Euston) to use GSM-R on the south end of the WCML ran on 27 May 2009. This was the first vehicle to run in passenger service with GSM-R outside of the Strathclyde trial. A fully functional GSM-R system had been on trial on the North Clyde Line in Scotland since 2007. For some years before these trials commenced however, GSM-R had been in use for voice-only purposes – known as the 'Interim Voice Radio System' (IVRS) – in some locations where axle counters are used for train detection, for example parts of the WCML between Crewe and Wembley. , the only areas of UK Network Rail still currently employing VHF train radio communications are on sections of the Highland and Far North lines in Scotland, where the Radio Electronic Token Block system is utilised, using modified Ofcom frequencies around 180 MHz, having been de-scoped from the National GSM-R plan, due to practical difficulties involved in deploying the GSM-R system in this region. Currently, 100% of the UK network has GSM-R coverage. Gallery References External links GSM-R at the International Union of Railways European Rail Traffic Management System GSM standard Rail transport mobile telecommunications standards