The Indian railway has decided to withhold their project to provide an internet connection inside the train because it was not cost-effective. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav confirmed it through a written reply to a question in the Loksabha. Initially, The WiFi-based internet facility was given in the Howarah Rajasthani express train through satellite communication technology.
” This technology was capital intensive with recurring costs in the form of bandwidth charges and thus was not cost-effective. Also, the internet bandwidth available to passengers was inadequate. Hence the project was dropped. At present, suitable cost-effective technology for the provision of WiFi based internet services in trains is not available”. Railway minister said.
The project was initiated by former minister Piyush goyal in 2019 with the purpose to serve WiFi services in all the trains in the next four years. Presently all the railway stations in the country has WiFi facility with the help of RailTel, a public sector undertaking controlled by the ministry of railways.