The on train solution will likely use 2 HSPDA modems on each network and these will have high quality antennas roof mounted which should beat any 3G stick. Some fancy software provides a virtual network tunnel so your connection stays up, through it gets routed through Sweden for one of the main providers
I understand that Irish Rail had discussions with some or all of the mobile networks to fill in some serious gaps in coverage on the Dublin Cork mainline, 3 gaps were found and have been filed.
Vodafone have coverage through the tunnel at Cork and Irish Rail has done deals for collocation at some of its signaling radio masts. Irish Rail happen to own the biggest fiber optic network in Ireland so easy slap a base station in.
The class B private address 169.x.x.x is typical of the SSID broadcast issue you see. You would expect to see 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x if connected to the trains wifi (when its fitted)
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