Western Railway like to energise Suburban Locals with WiFi connections

Western Railway like to energise Suburban Locals with WiFi connections

Mumbai: Western Railway (WR) will provide WiFi in local trains as well, said officials. The earlier plan was to just provide WiFi on the platforms, but the consensus that seems to be emerging is that people may overcrowd the platform just for the sake of free WiFi if the facility is restricted only to platforms.

After the Central Railway (CR) began installing routers at CST station since February, the WR will also introduce the technology, but has decided to take the endeavour forward by installing WiFi in the train itself so that commuters can surf the Internet and can productively save time during their commute.

A company called Wow Solutions has suggested a proposition that will be beneficial to the company as well as the Railways, an official said. “The company has said that they will install the WiFi for free and will earn revenue via advertisements when commuters log on to the browser.”

Advertisers will then give Wow Solutions a sum of money every time a commuter opens the browser, “The advertisement will appear like a slide in a Powerpoint presentation. The commuter will have to close it, but the company would have already earned revenue as someone has seen it,” added the official.

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu had promised free WiFi to all railway users in the Rail Budget presented on February 26 this year, in both passenger and suburban trains.