With the rollout of a Wi-Fi facility at Hazaribagh Town railway station in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand in Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway, the Indian Railways has now been able to provide Wi-Fi services at 6,000 railway stations across the country.
Indian Railways claimed that is continuing to extend the Wi-Fi facility at far-flung stations to connect the passengers and the general public with digital systems.
The first railway station with which the Indian Railways started its journey of providing Wi-Fi facility was that in Mumbai in January 2016, it said, adding that a railway station in Midnapore of West Bengal was the 5000th station and yesterday it reached the 6,000 marks with the Hazaribagh Town railway station.
The Indian Railways further stated that Jarapada station in the Angul district of Odisha was also provided with Wi-Fi the same day it was provided in Hazaribagh.
The Wi-Fi facility at railway stations meets the objectives of the aspiring Digital India Program of the Government of India and will bridge the digital divide between the rural and urban citizens thereby increasing the digital footprint in the rural villages and also enhance the user experience, it said.
The Indian Railways also mentioned that the provision of Wi-Fi facilities at railway stations is on a self-sustainable basis with no cost to the Railways.
This facility was provided with the help of RailTel, a PSU under the Ministry of Railways. This task was carried out in partnership with Google, DOT (under USOF), PGCIL, and Tata Trust, it added.
