In a major achievement for the Indian Railways, 2000 stations have been connected to free and fast WiFi. Union Minister for Railways, Piyush Goyal tweeted, “Milestone achieved with over 2,000 Railway Stations connected to free & fast Wi-Fi. A step towards PM @NarendraModi ji’s vision of a Digital India, people from villages & small towns are being digitally empowered with access to knowledge and the outside world.”
Milestone achieved with over 2,000 Railway Stations connected to free & fast Wi-Fi.
A step towards PM @NarendraModi ji's vision of a Digital India, people from villages & small towns are being digitally empowered with access to knowledge and the outside world. pic.twitter.com/bXfuaYhbS5
— Piyush Goyal (मोदी का परिवार) (@PiyushGoyal) August 3, 2019
Puneet Chawla, the CMD of RailTel, said that Rana Pratap Nagar railway station of Ajmer division in Rajasthan became the 2000th Railway station in India to be connected by free internet facility. In an official statement, Chawla said, ” Our team is working round the clock and with each passing day execution pace is only increasing. Yesterday we made 74 stations live and while we speak some more stations are being made live with free wifi which is an incredible feat for us.”
RailTel is a Railway PSU which provides free WiFi services at the Railway stations. It works with the vision of turning the Indian Railways into a paltform for digital inclusion. In the first phase, RailTel successful connected 1600 Railway stations across India with the free WiFi service. It has now also roped in Tata Trust to take this initiative further and provide WiFi connectivity to all Railway stations except the halt ones. The statement read that the idea behind providing free WiFi connectivity to very small railway stations that cater mainly to rural and low population density areas is to provide people with state of the art internet facility.
Indian Railway minister Piyush Goyal’s tweet also highlights how this project is aimed at digital inclusiveness and empowerment by giving access to knowledge and outside world to people living in villages and small towns. With this, the Railways is playing a big role in the current regime’s vision of Digital India. This also gives the Indian Railways a decisive edge when it comes to passenger satisfaction. It ensures a more convenient rail journey by providing a facility which is seen as essential in today’s time. This is yet another feather in the cap for the Indian Railway and Piyush Goyal, whose inspiring leadership has taken the Indian Railway to new heights. Having already ensured a really impressive safety record in rail operations, the national carrier is now focusing its energies upon passenger satisfaction.
