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The Railways has dropped its project for providing Wi-Fi based internet services in trains as it did not prove to be a cost-effective option.
“At present suitable cost-effective technology for provision of Wi-Fi based internet services in trains is not available,” Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw said in reply to a question posed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Indian Railways has, in the past, provided Wi-Fi based internet facility in Howrah Rajdhani Express Trains through Satellite Communication technology. “This technology was capital intensive, with recurring costs in the form of bandwidth charges and thus was not cost-effective. Also, the internet bandwidth availability to passengers was inadequate. Hence the project was dropped,” Vaishnaw said.
Former Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had said in October 2019 that the Centre had plans of providing Wi-Fi services in trains in the next four to four-and-a-half years. Earlier this year, Goyal said in a written reply to Parliament that free Wi-Fi service had been provided at over 5,957 railway stations in India.
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