TRAI test on Tinsukia-Guwahati rail route: BSNL drops 1 in 3 calls

Train passengers on the New Tinsukia-Guwahati route lose a large share of their mobile calls, especially on BSNL, according to an independent drive test by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) whose results were released on Monday.

The test was carried out on September 11, 2026, and covered 515.9 km of railway track along with two station hotspots, Guwahati and New Tinsukia. The route runs through Simaluguri, Mariani, Furkating, Dimapur, Diphu and Lumding junctions.

Call drops by operator

Of the calls that connected during the test, the share that later dropped was:

• BSNL: 65 of 205 calls, or 31.7 per cent - nearly one in three;
• Vodafone Idea (Vi): 34 of 164, or 20.7 per cent;
• Reliance Jio: 9 of 175, or 5.1 per cent;
• Airtel: 5 of 166, or 3 per cent, the best on the route.

Weak or no signal

Poor signal strength showed up in 48.6 per cent of BSNL's voice-test samples and 46.7 per cent of Vi's, against 14.7 per cent for Airtel and 14.4 per cent for Jio. Vi had the most samples with no network at all (2,703), followed by BSNL (2,085), Airtel (631) and Jio (197).

Data speeds

Jio was the fastest for downloads, averaging 110.82 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 42.71 Mbps, Vi at 15.69 Mbps and BSNL at just 5 Mbps. Airtel led on uploads with 11.75 Mbps, ahead of Jio (8.29 Mbps), Vi (5.46 Mbps) and BSNL (3.25 Mbps).

What TRAI said

The regulator said the test was run by its appointed agency under the supervision of its Kolkata regional office to measure the real quality of voice and data services available to users. It added that the results reflect network performance on the tested route at the date and time of the test, and that the findings have been shared with the operators for corrective action.

The route is one of the busiest in the Northeast, carrying long-distance and intercity trains between Upper Assam, Nagaland's Dimapur and Guwahati. TRAI has carried out a series of similar drive tests in the region this year, including one in Arunachal Pradesh's Lohit district.