8,500 railway stations across India will soon be equipped with Wi-Fi

The Indian Railways is planning to set up Wi-Fi facilities in 8,500 railway stations across India. This will cover urban as well as rural and remote areas. The new project will be costing a total of 700 crore INR.
The decision to equip 8,500 Indian railway stations with Wi-Fi has been taken as part of the Digital India initiative. Currently, Wi-Fi services are enabled at about 216 major railway stations, where about seven million commuters are able to access free Internet facility.

The meeting helped point out 1,200 stations that would primarily cater to rail passengers, while at the same time 7,300 other stations have been selected to serve passengers and also allow local people to access free internet facility in rural areas. This move to make Wi-Fi facilities available in rural areas for the reach of the local population is part of the digital makeover of rural India, and would further promote e-governance.
A senior railway official mentioned, "Internet access has now become an important requirement in day-to-day working and we shall be providing this facility at all railway stations in the country."


With the help of the Telecom Ministry, the railway stations will have kiosks with Wi-Fi as well, and these will allow people to access services such as digital banking, Aadhaar generation, issuing government certificates, and as well filing taxes and paying bills. Also, people can access e-commerce websites through these kiosks to order and receive goods.

A total of 600 stations have been targeted to be provided with Wi-Fi facility by March 2018, while all 8,500 stations should have Wi-Fi access by 2019.