A locomotive consist includes a lead locomotive, one or more trail locomotives, and a multiple unit (MU) cable bus interconnecting the first locomotive and the trail locomotives, which is used in the locomotive consist for transferring non-network control information between the lead vehicle and the trail locomotives. In a system and method for communicating data in the locomotive consist, network data is transmitted from the lead locomotive in the locomotive consist to one or more of the trail locomotives in the locomotive consist. The network data is transmitted over the MU cable bus. Each locomotive may include a computer unit or other electronic component, which along with the MU cable bus form a network in the train, e.g., an Ethernet network.