Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Dec 23: In order to enable the passengers to get their work done and get entertained at the same time, and also for facilitating people who attend competitive examinations, the southern railway has extended Wi-Fi facility in 543 railway stations within its jurisdiction. With this, except for small stations, all other stations have been provided with this facility.
As many as 5,087 km of optical fibre has been laid and high speed internet facility is being made available in all these railway stations. Southern railway public relations officer, B Gunashekharan, said that the passengers and students alike are getting easy internet connection now.
A total of 135 of these stations are located in Chennai division of the southern railway, 105 are in Trichy division, 79 in Salem division, 95 in Madurai division, 59 are in Palakkad and 70 in Thiruvananthapuram division. Every day the number of Wi-Fi users is going up considerably, Gunashekharan said, adding that this scheme has been started with the aim of transforming railway stations into digital hubs.
'Railtel', which has been instituted by the railways, was entrusted with the work of implementing this scheme. By undertaking work without break, 'Railwire' facility has been provided in all the stations. The people are being made aware about the availability of this facility through announcements, social websites and banners.
The scheme of providing Wi-Fi facility in railway stations had been announced in the 2015 railway budget. Many important stations and rural railway stations are providing this facility. The students going to attend competitive exams and railway passengers are accessing this facility through mobile phones, tabs etc.
To make use of this facility, people have to switch on the Wi-Fi in their mobile phones and select railwire which comes into view. When the railway portal is opened, OTP is received on the mobile phone which has to be entered. Wi-Fi for the first 30 minutes is free at 1 mbps speed. For faster internet, passengers can avail of the same by paying the requisite charges. There are schemes like Rs 10 (5 GB data at 34 mbps) to Rs 75 per month (60 GB data at 34 mbps). These can be bought online through net banking, wallet, credit cards etc, Gunashekharan stated.