The project was initiated from the Mumbai Central Station and Sahibabad gets the distinction of becoming the 1500th station to get free Wi-Fi access.
Sahibabad Station under Northern Railways has become the 1500th station in the country to get free Wi-Fi facility provided by RailTel.
So far, the entire Delhi-Ambala and Ambala-Chandigarh sections and Kalka Shimla Hill Railways have been covered with free Wi-Fi service at stations.
Recently, Indian Railways has set a record by covering 500 stations with free Wi-Fi in seven days. In order to set up free Wi-Fi at all railway stations on the Indian Railways network (except the halt stations) within a year, RailTel has tied up with Tata Trust for providing Wi-Fi at 4791 B, C, D and E category stations.
Bridging the urban and rural gap
Puneet Chawla, chairman and managing director of RailTel has informed ANI that the project was initiated from Mumbai Central Station and Sahibabad gets the distinction of becoming the 1500th station to get access to free Wi-Fi. While sharing the future plans, he stated that RailTel is now targeting the smaller stations and aiming to complete the project by the year-end.
Chawla further added that stations like Sahibabad are very small stations catering to the rural population and low-density areas. Citing the existing visible digital divide between rural and urban India, Chawla pointed out how the rural population is often deprived of the latest telecom infrastructure mainly provided by the private operators. The Indian Railways has taken the initiative of providing free Wi-Fi at the stations so that not only the rail users but also the local populace can benefit from it, he informed.
