ADVERTISEMENT

3,000th Railway Station Gets WiFi, 1,000 Enabled In 15 Days

The railways enabled free WiFi at its 3,000th station as the facility went live at Rajasthan’s Ellenabad.

A passenger shows his smartphone screen to another passenger at Mumbai Central railway station in Mumbai, India (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)  
A passenger shows his smartphone screen to another passenger at Mumbai Central railway station in Mumbai, India (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)  

Reaching a landmark, the railways enabled free WiFi at its 3,000th station as the facility went live at Rajasthan's Ellenabad on Monday, with 1,000 stations connected in just 15 days, officials said.

Ellenabad railway station in Bikaner Division of North Western Railway is situated north of the Ghaggar-Hakra river and serves as a point of entry into the state of Haryana from Rajasthan.

On Aug. 3, Rajasthan's Rana Pratap Nagar, also in the North Western Railway, became the 2000th station to have wifi facility.

The railways plans to provide free WiFi facility at all its stations, around 6,000.

The railways' free WiFi facility at stations began from Mumbai Central in January 2016 and within 16 months it was live at 1,600 stations across India. Railway's telecommunications arm RailTel began the process with a vision to turn stations into a platform for digital inclusion.

RailTel has now roped in Tata Trust for providing the facility at remaining stations in the country.

"We are going full throttle for providing WiFi at all assigned stations. A thousand stations across India have been enabled with WiFi in mere 15 days time which speaks volumes of the capability and dedication of the team", said Puneet Chawla, CMD, RailTel.

To use the facility, a user has to switch on the WiFi mode on the smartphone and select the RailWire WiFi network. The RailWire homepage automatically appears on the smartphone.

The user is then prompted to enter his or her mobile number on the homepage to get a one-time password. The OTP has to be entered in the homepage of RailWire. After entering the OTP, the user can access high speed internet and can start browsing.

Opinion
Top Telecom Firms Oppose Premium Spectrum Allocation To Indian Railways