The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) contracted a research team from TTCI (now MxV Rail) to assess the potential use of multi-band and directional antennas to meet the current and future wireless communication needs of the U.S. railroad industry. FRA supported this project due to the high level of complexity involved in developing requirements for and quantifying the benefits of multi-band and directional antennas. The research team found that significant communications capacity gains could be achieved in dense urban areas using more directional antennas, particularly on base stations, with additional gains possible through increased use of directional antennas at wayside locations and/or use of smart antenna systems on locomotives.