Currently, most of the city's railway stations are WiFi-enabled and only in November, 31.22 lakh people have consumed as much as 715 TB of data.
Now, one can expect WiFi in local trains for real. People travelling on the Western line can expect WiFi connectivity in local trains by next year. The Railway authorities will install the connection in long-distance trains like that of Rajdhani and Shatabdi first. It will be later installed in the city's local trains.
Currently, most of the city's railway stations are WiFi-enabled and only in November, 31.22 lakh people have consumed as much as 715 TB of data.
The Western Railway (WR) has proposed setting up WiFi inside trains for which tenders too will be announced soon. Sources said that they will be calling tenders by the end of this month. "The router and LAN will be installed inside the coaches. There will be a firewall to cover a certain distance beyond which the WiFi will get disabled," a WR official, on the condition of anonymity, said.
The router will receive aerial connectivity with the help of necessary equipment. The Railway officials said that they are working on the strength of routers and their capacity to relay data as a single long distance train — that varies from 14 to 24 coaches — carry thousands of passengers.
"We will have to ensure that speeds do not slow down. For instance, at railway stations, the speed is almost one GBPS," another WR official said. As per basic functioning rules, passengers on board will have to feed in their contact numbers as password that will be verified and then, the WiFi will connect. Depending upon the time of usage, the speed will vary.
The contractor will be given advertisement rights on the coaches of trains. The WR officials said that the initiative is surely going to be a challenge when it comes to catering suburban local trains that are used by 37 lakh commuters on a daily basis. However, the initiative will prove to be useful for those travelling on the Virar-Dahanu stretch.
As per data, Thane and Panvel on the Central line and Andheri on the Western line are stations that record maximum use of WiFi data.
Number of WiFi users at Railway stations
CR: Main line: 14,16,440
Harbour line: 7,74,743
WR: Main line: 9,29,897
Total: 31,21,080
PATH OF PROGRESS
- Currently, most of the city’s railway stations are WiFi-enabled and only in November, 31.22 lakh people have consumed as much as 715 TB of data
- The WR has proposed setting up of WiFi inside trains for which tenders too will be announced soon. Sources said that they will be calling tenders in Nov
- The Railway officials said that they are working on the strength of routers and their capacity to relay data as a single long distance train carries thousands of passengers
- Passengers on board will have to feed in their contact numbers as password that will be verified and then, the WiFi will connect
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