Biggest CSR initiative on Indian Railways! Tata group to provide free high-speed WiFi on 4,000 rail stations
WiFi facility at railway stations: Another big step by Indian Railways to provide free Wifi facility to passengers! After joining hands with Google, Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry has now roped in the Tata Group in a bid to provide free high-speed WiFi facility at more than 4,000 railway stations across the country. According to an IE report, to carry out proof of concept (PoC) of the WiFi project, under which Indian Railways station users will be able to enjoy high-speed internet for free, Tata Trusts had been given eight railway stations between Bengaluru and Mysore, as part of the understanding, before the project is rolled out across the country. Interestingly, at eight stations across the railway network, the PoC process has been a success, the report said.
The national transporter, after a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, had been trying to work out a strategy to implement the free WiFi facility at railway stations that too in a way that neither Indian Railways nor the government incurs any expenditure on this plan. Thus, now the project will be carried out by Tata Trusts as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Therefore, Indian Railways will not have to shell out anything for this. According to sources quoted in the report, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal took personal initiative in discussions with Tata Group’s top management to get the company on board. For the Railway Board, this initiative is one of the main priorities as this will be the largest CSR initiative ever on Indian Railways. However, to get the project implemented, the Tatas have tied up with a separate agency, the report said.
According to the report, nearly 2,000 out of the 8,000-odd railway stations have been left out of the proposed WiFi project since they are halt stations, which do not receive significant footfall.
The internet giant, Google has already wired up more than 400 bigger railway stations across the country to take the current figure to 712 railway stations. Also, the PowerGrid Corporation is providing WiFi to 100 railway stations as part of its CSR initiative. The national transporter’s own telecom PSU RailTel has also covered a number of railway stations to implement free Wifi facility.