Siting in long distance railways gets very boring. You have to see the same faces for 24 hours or more depending on your journey time. Newspaper and novels are a good option but even that gets boring after some time. You can not talk on the phone because the networks keep fluctuating. You cannot even use Laptop too. To tackle all this Indian Railways have found a solution. The indian railways will very soon enable Wi fi internet in their long distance trains. This Wi fi internet will make travelling in trains more fun. Successful trials were carried out by RailTel Corporation which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, had conducted successful trials in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express in January.
The Indian Railways is planning to make the New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express the first Wi-Fi-enabled train in the country. Internet browsing using the Wi-Fi technology is planned to be introduced in the Howrah-Rajdhani Express as a pilot project by December-end. The Wi-Fi facility, available at the international airports in the country, enables laptop users to access the Net without plugging into a regular connection, or having to use a data card.
Both business travellers and commuters will be interested in using wireless services on trains as it will enable them to productively use the nearly 24 hour travel and be in touch with the global community and share their experiences in real time. The facility would be initially available in three rakes of the train and extended to other trains depending on the success of the project. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 6.30 crore, and the railways have awarded the contract for the equipment and their installation.
The satellite link-up cost is more than Rs 1.75 crore and the equipment to facilitate Internet access will cost around Rs 4.5 crore, a senior railway ministry official said. The trials have proved that passengers will experience seamless connectivity on running trains. Considering the revenue it will yield, the project is being given top priority.The railways plan to equip other Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains with Wi-Fi facility in the future.
Passengers will have to make a requisition to the travelling ticket examiner to access the Internet. The examiner will send the requisition to the central hub and a password will be sent through SMS to the passenger’s mobile phone. While the charges for Internet use and the security issues are being worked out, officials said payment could be through credit, debit card or Net banking.
With Wifi network in the railways now railway commuters can access internet on their Laptops or their wifi enabled mobile phones. The commuters can also visit social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and also do online recharge. Commuters can recharge mobile online while travelling.
