10 more stations to get Wi-Fi facility

There is good news for net-savvy Mumbaikars as 10 suburban stations will get Wi-Fi in the coming month. Google has tied up with the internet arm of the Indian Railway (IR), RailTel, and will make high-speed internet accessible to commuters.

Earlier this year, Mumbai Central was the first and only station to get Wi-Fi on January 22. The facility was inaugurated by Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu. The facility will now be extended to commuters on other suburban stations such as Dadar, Bandra Terminus, Churchgate, Thane, Kalyan, Panvel, Vashi, Kurla, CST and Borivali. Commuters can use the facility for absolutely no charge for an hour

The high-speed Wi-Fi system has been getting good feedback from commuters who have been using it at Mumbai Central.

Nahed Patrawala (20), a resident of the area, said that he would go to the station and use the internet to catch up on important TV series on Netflix.

“I sometimes just sit here and catch up on my favourite series and then head home. Most of us who have limited data plan do that. Initially, it takes a while to load in the series, but once it is done, it has decent image clarity,” she said.

A year ago, the Central Railway (CR) had tried to start its own Wi-Fi indigenously, which was free for around 30 minutes. However, commuter feedback stated that the signal was unreliable and connecting to the Wi-Fi had not been possible at least four of the six times they tried.

The new system, however, should be more reliant as Google has tied up with RailTel, which has laid down optic fibre cables for connectivity through out India.

“Currently we are happy with the response from Mumbai Central, but stations such as Dadar, Thane and other heavy footfall stations will be a challenge,” said a railway official on condition of anonymity.

Mr Prabhu, who was on a visit to the city on May 14, reiterated the need of technology to run a system that will serve the passengers.