In line with the government's Digital India initiative, the Railway Ministry on Sunday launched free Wi-Fi facility at 28 stations on Konkan railway in Maharashtra.
Unlimited free Wi-Fi facility will be provided at 28 stations from Kolad to Madure in the initial phase, according to an official statement issued on Sunday.
The ministry said this facility will help travelling public, commuters and tourists on Indian Railways to access essential information and they could use their time productively while waiting for trains at railway stations.
This initiative is a step towards making a smarter India, it added.
It has informed that the Joispot mobile application provides two megabits per second (mbps) speed wireless internet with unlimited uploads.
Indian Railways has tied up with Internet service providers Syscon and Joister for provision of this facility.
The free Wi-Fi internet bandwidth is provided at the stations of Kolad, Mangaon, Veer, Karanjadi, Vinhere, Diwankhavati, Khed, Anjani, Chiplun, Kamthe, Sawarda, Aravali Road, Sangameshwar, Ukshi, Bhoke and Ratnagiri.
Other stations with availability of free internet under this initiative are Nivasar, Adavali, Vilavade, Rajapur Road, Vaibhavwadi Road, Nandgaon Road, Kankavali, Sindhudurg, Kudal, Zarap, Sawantwadi Road and Madure.
The system can provide access to about 300 users at bigger stations and about 100 users at smaller stations.
This comes a month after the railways identified over 7,000 towns in India to convert their railway stations into digital hotspots. Apart from offering Wifi, these stations will serve as a hub to order and receive goods from ecommerce portals.
These would be launched under the 'Railwire Saathi' initiative and most of the 7000 stations will be in rural and remote areas
The government also proposed that these stations will provide digital services like digital banking, Aadhaar generation, filing taxes and more.
The Railwire Saathi initiative aims to be operational in 5,000 stations and 25,000 panchayats across the country in the next two years. As per reports, the railways estimate that the initiative will generate revenues of anywhere between Rs 12,000 to Rs 25,000 a month.
With inputs from IANS
Image: Kalervok