Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday said the Indian Railways would soon be launching Wi-Fi services in 14 more stations and by the end of the year, as many as 100 stations would be covered.
Mr. Prabhu was speaking after launching a high speed Wi-Fi facility at Kachiguda railway station through a remote video link from New Delhi in the presence of Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya and Railway Board chairman A.K. Mittal.
Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana Md. Mahmood Ali, Home Minister N. Narasimha Reddy, Mayor B. Rammohan, BJP MLA G. Kishan Reddy and others watched it on screen at the Kachiguda station.
The Railway Minister said the facility would enable passengers stream high-definition videos, search for destination, download a book or a new game while waiting or enjoying the journey.
Mr. Dattatreya said the launch of this facility was another step of the Indian Railways in its endeavour to achieve ‘Digital Rail - Digital India’ and pointed out that it marked the fulfilment of a promise in the Railway Budget.
Lauding the South Central Railway for its initiatives on passenger amenities, Mr. Mahmood Ali said the launch of Wi-Fi was in tune with the image of Hyderabad that was emerging as a top-class international level IT hub.
Additional general manager of SCR A. K. Gupta said South Central Railways was focussed on providing IT-enabled services aimed at passenger convenience.
The Kacheguda station is the second Wi-Fi enabled station by the SCR, after Secunderabad railway station.
The entire concourse area of the Kachiguda station is said to be covered through 27 wireless access points and 12 access switches, backed by gigabit capacity switches, and the Wi-Fi facility can be accessed free of charge on their smartphones, tablets and laptops.
The difference
A major difference between the Wi-Fi facility at Secunderabad and the one now commissioned at Kachiguda is that while at the former station, the facility is active only for 30 minutes on one PNR (ticket), it will be virtually unlimited in Kacheguda.
An SCR officer said that even if a passenger had an evening train to catch, he/she could spend the entire day and enjoy the access provided by the high-speed Wi-Fi facility.
Passengers can stream high-definition videos, search for destination, download a book or a new game while waiting or enjoying the journey.
Suresh PrabhuRailway Minister
