Bansal announces free WiFi on trains

Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal today announced free WiFi on trains and new age ticketing system in his maiden railway budget.The railway budget that was present in the lower house of the parliament today also has plans to allow booking of train tickets on mobile phones.

"As a follow-up to overwhelming response to the Indian Railways Web site and integrated train inquiry service under 193, a project of SMS alerts to passengers providing updates on reservation status is being rolled out shortly,'' the Railway Minister said in his speech.

According to Jagdip Rana, vice president of business development,Techno SatComm, the company who has bagged order to deploy WiFi systems in the trains, the deployment of WiFi will start in a fortnight on Hawrah to Delhi Rajdhani and around 50 trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto express will see such deployment in near future as a part of the project.

He further stated that Government has mandated an intensive security audit for these deployments which will makes them safe and secure to cater to increasing aspirations and requirement of youth and other passengers .

Another 60 stations will be upgraded as Adarsh Stations and voluntary organizations will be involved for providing first aid services at

railway stations during the year.

To make railway services people-sensitive and more efficient, the

Railway Minister said that several IT initiatives will be introduced in

near future which include extension of internet ticketing from 0030

hours to 2330 hours, e-ticketing through mobile phones, SMS alerts to

passengers providing updates on reservation status and Next-Generation

e-ticketing system will be rolled out which will be capable of handling

7200 tickets per minute against 2000 now.