6,000 railway stations will be WiFi-enabled in 6 months: Goyal
Around 6,000 railway stations will be WiFi-enabled in the next 6-8 months, Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal said today. Speaking at the "Smart Railways Conclave" organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi, the Railways Minister said that the railways was focusing on smarter project implementation with the help of digital technology. Here's more.
Goyal says aim is to ensure technology access across India
"If we have to leverage digital technology, the basic ingredient is to ensure access to technology in the remotest part of India," Goyal said. "The railways is working on a program to ensure the last mile connectivity wherever we don't have fiber optics in our network. We're hopeful that in the next six-to-eight months, about 6,000 stations will be WiFi-enabled," he said.
Goyal says punctuality of trains improved by 73-74% since April
Goyal said that the railways will have to start thinking, planning, and working smartly. On punctuality of trains, the Minister said that since April 1, punctuality of trains has improved to 73-74% as the railways has made a change by replacing the manual recording of time by station masters with data loggers placed at interchange points across the network that ensure computer generated time.
Railways planning to make itself efficient in big way: Goyal
"We are working on putting a GPS device on every locomotive so that we will have every train marked on mobile phone, knowing exactly where they are," Goyal said. He also said that the railways was embarking on making itself efficient in a big way which will save $2 billion every year, which otherwise would have to be passed on to the passengers.
