This article describes a next-generation architecture for wireless communications, based on mobile phone carriers (GPRS) and broadband (WiFi), developed for the field of railways and allowing "train-to-earth" communications. This communication channel aims to complement traditional railway communication systems and its benefits make the deployment of new services, such as passenger oriented services, possible. Moreover, the result of this work is in itself a framework for the addition of new on-board applications that have the capacity to connect the trains with control points. As part of the architecture’s validation, currently underway, new digital services in the field of railways are being implanted.