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Indian Express Comes with WiFi On-Board
(06 Apr 2016, BWCS Staff)India has launched its first “semi-high speed train”, equipped with free on-board WiFi. Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu oversaw the inaugural departure of the Gatiman Express from Nizamuddin station yesterday. The new service will cover the 200km between Delhi and Agra in one hour and 40 minutes, reaching a top speed of 160km per hour along the way.
As the train pulled out, the Minister went on record as saying that his government wants “To increase speed of all trains whether ordinary or express as part of our mission. It is not an easy task. It will take time but we have made a plan."
The Express, which is aimed squarely at tourists visiting the City of Taj, boasts a GPS-based passenger information system and sharply improved passenger facilities. These include better catering, spruced up interiors, wider windows and free on-board WiFi hotspots and passenger multimedia services offering movies, news and cartoons during the journeys to and from Agra. Passengers will have to download an app to access the service free of charge, while the service providers will show “some advertisements for limited duration”.
Earlier this year, US-based Search Engine giant Google began working with Indian Railways’ RailTel Corporation to roll out passenger WiFi at 400 train stations nationwide. The wireless internet connections are backed by RailTel’s huge fibre-optic infrastructure. Currently its network covers some 26,000 miles of railway track snaking its way round the subcontinent. The company says it plans to increase this to 33,000 miles.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote on his company’s official blog: “Best of all, the service will be free to start, with the long-term goal of making it self-sustainable to allow for expansion to more stations and other places, with RailTel and more partners, in the future.” For the moment, passenger internet access is limited to train stations, with 100 of the largest ones being targeted in the initial stages. However, Indian Railways has ambitious plans to offer on-train passenger WiFi on other services beside the Gatiman Express in the near future.
It is not yet clear for how long the service will remain free. Certainly, Google has made no secret of the fact that it plans to at least recoup some of the costs, though whether this will come through subscriptions of via the more-likely route of online advertising remains to be seen.
Indian Railways will be one of the main presenters at this year’s WiFi on Trains Conference hosted by BWCS.
The Conference will examine the expanding market for on-board WiFi services as well as the problems of intermittent mobile coverage, proposed trackside solutions.
For more information please see www.Traincomms2016.com or contact Ross.Parsons@BWCS.com .
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