Indian Railways is providing fast & free Wi-Fi to passengers at Railway stations as a giant leap towards Digital India.
Rail Wire Wi-Fi at Railways stations is gaining popularity and is a preferred choice of the Rail users and passengers while at railway stations.
High speed Wi-Fi services at Railway stations have earlier been provided through collaboration of RailTel and Google in first phase. RailTel provided high speed end to end network connectivity on Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) & Google provided Radio access network equipment along with technology support.
N. F. Railway covers total nine states (07 North-eastern states and 02 Eastern India states). All A1, A, B, D class stations of N. F. Railway’s jurisdiction were covered with Wi-Fi facility in phase -I. Majority of taluk headquarters that have railway stations have now been provided with Wi-Fi network. This year 295 stations on NFR (Katihar Division 54 stations, Alipurduar Division 55 stations, Rangiya Division 64 stations, Lumding Division 87 stations and Tinsukia Division 35 stations) will be provided with Wi-Fi under Corporate Social Responsibility by M/s Tata Trust. With this all the 363 stations of NFR will have (except halt stations) free Wi-Fi hotspots by the end of current financial year.
Till last month 198 stations have already been provided with free Wi-Fi facilities. Of which 64 stations were commissioned during the month of September only. These include 17 stations of Tinsukia division (Panitola, Makum Jn., Dhamalgaon, Leptkata, Dikom, Chabua, Tingrai, Digboi, Lahoal, Margherita, Chaulkhowa, Khowang, Naharkatiya, Dibrugarh Town, Moranhat, Tangani, Selenghat); 20 stations of Lumding division (Rangapahar, Dhansiri, Daldali, Diphu, Jagiroad, Khotkhoti, Bokajan, Chungajan, Naojan, Katakhal, Panchgram, Sarupathar, Barpathar, Bhilgaon, Bhanga, Badarpur, Karimganj, Nilambazar, Barlongfar, Langcholet); 11 station of Rangiya division (Changsari, Sripani, North Lakhimpur, Gogamukh, Pancharatna, Krishnai, Amjonga, Silapathar, Dhupdhara, Rangjuli, Singra); 7 stations of Alipurduar division (Dalgaon, Basugaon, New Baneswar, Gumanihat, New Chengrabandha, Chengrabandha, Kalaigram) ; 9 stations of Katihar division (Bhatnaha, Araria Court, Jhaua, Hatwar, Kanki, Dalkhola, Telta, Manihari, Arariya).
Railway passengers can now easily purchase UTS tickets from these stations by using mobile Apps. They can also avail various facilities / information while on railway stations free of cost.
It is estimated that about 20,000 users in Railway Premises every day are first time users of the internet and there are very heart-warming stories of how the station Wi-Fi has helped to transform lives.
Details of Wi-Fi over NFR:
| Total numbers of stations | 363 stations |
| Provided till FY 2018-19 | 68 stations |
| Target in FY 2019-20 by Tata Trust | 295 stations |
| Work in Progress for Installation for FY 2019-20 | 97 stations |
| Commissioning completed so far for FY 2019-20 | 198 stations |
