MADURAI: In a significant move to bridge the digital divide:, free Wi-Fi Internet facilities will be provided at 543 railway stations over in Southern Railway (SR) zone.
A press release received from Southern Railway on 19th December 2021 has said that Indian Railways has been in the forefront of implementing digital initiatives to realize the dream of Digital India and information technology-oriented passenger applications/amenities like National Train Enquiry System and the Passenger Reservation System have been revolutionizing the passenger travel experience. Now, Indian Railways is forging ahead with providing access to Internet Facility to the passengers through its Wi-Fi Network Connectivity/ facility at Railway Stations.
As a part of this major public friendly measure, 543 stations over Southern Railway Zone have been equipped with free high speed Wi-Fi Internet Connectivity so far making around 5087 Route Kms of Southern Railway covered with OFC (Optical Fibre Cable). Works to make this facility available at 100% Stations (except Halt stations) in Southern Railway has been completed.
Division wise coverage in Southern Railway is:
| Divisions | Stations |
| Chennai | 135 |
| Trichy | 105 |
| Salem | 79 |
| Madurai | 95 |
| Palakkad | 59 |
| Thiruvananthapuram | 70 |
The no. of users of these station Wi-Fi facilities is steadily increasing. This project has been taken up as a mission of turning Railway Stations into hubs of digital inclusion.
The responsibility to implement this remarkable Digital India initiative has been entrusted to Railway Mini Ratna PSU “RAILTEL”. Working tirelessly and continuously, RAILTEL is providing state of the art public Wi-Fi under the brand name of Railwire. RailTel has so far commissioned this facility at 6070+ stations across India.
“The quickening pace of modernisation and manifold increase in smart phone usage has triggered a ‘Digital India’ revolution. Envisaged in 2015 Rail Budget, the project of providing free Wi-Fi Internet facility at stations aims to bring free Wi-Fi access to railway stations across India. This includes small stations located in remote villages as well,” the railway press release added.
Public visiting stations can use this facility for streaming High Definition (HD) Videos, download of movies, songs, games, and do their offices work online.
Students, especially UPSC, RRB, RRC & SSC aspirants from remote locations with limited access to internet, use the station Wi-Fi facilities for their preparations. Passengers are also using this facility for leveraging entertainments on their personal devices. Feedback from Passengers at Major Stations across Southern Railway at Dr. MGR Chennai central, Chennai Egmore, Tambaram, Salem, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchchirappalli, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam Jn indicate excellent connectivity, seamless data access and great facility for the passengers.
The Railwire Wi-Fi facility is very user friendly. To switch on the connection, passengers need to scan Wi-Fi options and choose Railwire. Once the browser takes the user to the Railwire portal, it will ask for a mobile number to which a One Time Password (OTP) will be sent. Once connected, the Wi-Fi connection will last for 30 minutes. This helps the rail passengers to stay connected and updated with railway information.
The Wi-fi is free for the first 30 min of usage every day at 1 mbps speed. For using the Wi-Fi facility further at higher speed, the user needs to choose a plan with higher speed by paying a nominal fee. The plans vary from Rs. 10/day (for 5 GB @ 34 MBPS) to Rs. 75/30 day (for 60 GB @ 34 MBPS) excluding GST. A number of payment options like net banking, wallet, credit card can be used to purchase plan online.
