News
WiFi on Trains to Cover Bangladesh
(15 Jan 2016, BWCS Staff)Bangladesh Railways is set to become the latest in a long line of train operators around the world to start offering passenger WiFi services. According to reports in the local Financial Express newspaper, the country’s rail minister announced the plans to a waiting public and parliament this week. The state-owned rail company will also use the WiFi network for back office services which will be introduced gradually.
The Minister, Mohammed Mazibul Hoque, was speaking at the formal inauguration of WiFi services at some stations. Bangladesh Railways is in the strange situation of having no less than three separate gauges – broad gauge, metre gauge and dual gauge. In addition, the network, like the country itself, is divided in two by the Jamuna River, over which there is only one rail crossing.
At present, the train company operates 1,165 “metre gauge” coaches and 324 “broad gauge” coaches for passengers. The government has announced plans to add 270 new coaches to the railway’s fleet this year – the majority of which will come from Indonesia (150) and the remainder from neighbouring India. The Minister has not put a timetable on when, or how, the WiFi service will be introduced, nor has he revealed how much of the 2,855km of track – used by some 45 million passengers annually - it will cover.
The expanding market for on-board WiFi services as well as the problems of intermittent mobile coverage, proposed trackside solutions and other issues will all be covered in this year’s WiFi on Trains Conference hosted by BWCS. For more information on next year’s event please see www.Traincomms2016.com or contact Ross.Parsons@BWCS.com .
Back