Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani to soon have Wi-Fi facility

NEW DELHI: The Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani is set to become the first train in India to have Wi-Fi connectivity that would enable passengers to access internet during their rail journey.

Railways have awarded the Rs 5.3 crore contract for making equipping three rakes of the Delhi-Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani with the facility.

While the satellite link-up cost is more than Rs 1 crore, it would cost about Rs 4 crore for the equipment to facilitate internet access, a senior Railway Ministry official said. Internet facility is expected to be fully operational in two months.

Besides the Howrah Rajdhani, the Railways have plans to equip other Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains with Wi-Fi facility in the future. "The trials conducted in Mumbai-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express in January was found to be successful. So the proposal to provide internet on selected trains is being implemented," the official said.

A Rajdhani passenger has to get a password from the TTE for accessing the internet on a laptop. "The password will be passed on to the passenger through SMS on his mobile phone," the official said.

Railways, however, have not decided whether the facility will be provided free of cost or would be a paid service. "We are sure both business travellers and commuters would be interested in using wireless services on trains," the official said.