The FEBIS (Freight Electronic Brake and Information System) Project includes the development and testing of a radio-based communication system for freight trains by the Deutsche Bahn AG and the French Railway SNCF, in conjunction with industrial partners. This radio-based communication system is intended to permit data interchange between all vehicles within the trainset and thus would enable distributed electronic systems, such as the electronically controlled brake, to function within the freight train. The development is based on radio transmission in the 5.8 GHz ISM frequency band. As railways have little experience in this sector, investigations to characterise this radio channel on freight trains are being carried out at the Fachhochschule Lippe (University of Applied Sciences) at the same time as the FEBIS development at DB AG.This article contains a presentation and evaluation of the results achieved.