Free Wi-Fi connectivity at New Delhi railway station soon

Waiting for a train to arrive will no longer be boring as Railways is equipping India's busiest station with free Wi-Fi connectivity, a first in the country, to ensure value-added amenity for passengers.

New Delhi railway station, which handles about 300 trains and five lakh passengers a day, will be the first Wi-Fi enabled station in the country to have such a modern facility like major international airports.

"A Mumbai-based company has been given the job to make the New Delhi station a Wi-Fi enabled station," a senior Railway Ministry official said, adding "the company was selected through tender."

Wi-Fi is a popular networking technology which uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections.

Once operational, passengers on all 16 platforms of the station will be able to access Wi-Fi from their laptops of mobile phones, the official said.

The New Delhi station was chosen on a pilot basis to introduce the facility at an estimated cost of Rs 80 lakh. "The system is expected to be operational in 3/4 months," the official said.

The company will install towers at strategic locations to provide the facility, which will be extended to other stations in due course, he said.

Railways has already made Howrah Rajdhani trains Wi-Fi enabled.

There are also plans to replace information kiosks with tablet computers at New Delhi station.

"We are exploring to mount tablets on walls at certain places in the station for the benefit of passengers. The tablets will be equipped to disseminate information about the train position, expected arrival time and other relevant data required by the passenger," the official said.