Wi-Fi service launched at Mumbai Central Station

Mumbai, Jan 23: A free high-speed public Wi-Fi service has been launched at Mumbai Central, the first station in the country to get such facility.

The service was launched by the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday.

Terming the facility as "world class", Prabhu said around 100 busiest stations across the country will be brought under the free public Wi-Fi service by this year-end, making it the world's largest such project.

"When I proposed the full-fledged (Railway) budget last year, I had vowed to improve ailing condition of Indian Railway, and launching free Wi-Fi at Mumbai Central Station is one giant step towards improving the Railway," Prabhu said while addressing the gathering comprising senior railway officers, Google executives and passengers at the suburban railway station.

Terming it as a "historic day", the minister said that his government was trying hard to develop sustainable infrastructure and to improve safety and security of the passengers and bring financial stability to the entity.

The project of providing free Wi-Fi connectivity at 400 railway stations across the country was announced last September during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Google headquarters in the US.

The telecom wing of the Indian Railway, RailTel, signed an agreement with the subsidiary of Google India to provide Wi-Fi facilities at 400 stations across the country in December 2015.

In first phase, as many as 100 stations out of the total A1 and A categories would be covered with the offering, while the facility would be extended to 300 stations in the second phase.

OneIndia News (With agency inputs)