Railway To Install WiFi In 6K Stations Under Digital India Initiatives
In a bid to take Digital Indian initiatives to far-fetched areas, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is planning to bring 6.5K railway stations online through WiFi connections. The ministry has also expressed its intention to install CCTV cameras at the stations.
Goyal, while addressing the crowd during the launch of the second Vande Bharat Express from New Delhi to Katra on October 3, said that 5K stations across India are already equipped with WiFi facility, however, the ministry will be expanding these services to other stations.
The ministry also said that the plan is expected to connect women, children and people from economically weak sections with the rest of the world. The ministry announced its plan to equip major railway stations with WiFi back in 2015.
Then RailTel, which is a public sector enterprise that focuses on providing broadband and VPN services, has been trying to digitize railway stations under its Railwire initiative. However, it is currently limited to selected A1, A and some B listed stations only.
In January 2018, the ministry also reportedly planned on installing WiFis to all stations by March 2019. The estimated cost of the project was $110 Mn.
