Wifi HotSpots, Movies, Songs, Entertainment will be Available on Premium Indian Trains

Operation Swarn was launched last year by the Indian Railways with a budget of Rs 50 lakhs for each train to improve services and give a facelift.  In the first phase, wifi hotspots were tested in Delhi-Kathgodam Express, which worked well.  This service will be extended now to trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi Express and Duronto Express.

passengers on premium trains such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto Express will be able to watch movies, listen to music on the go with the help of WiFi hotspots! (Source: The Financial Express)

The passengers will not just be able to access the internet, but also download pre-loaded entertainment content to their smartphones, laptops and tablets from these hotspots.

“So, passengers will be allowed to connect to the WiFi hotspots and stream from pre-loaded content. This would include movies, songs, serials, maybe even news etc depending on what each zonal railways decides on,” the official told FE Online.

As for earning revenue, that model has not been finalized.  The thoughts are either to charge the users for some of the services or have the vendors integrate advertising and share part of the revenues with the Railways.

After the debacle of the stolen hardware in Tejas Express, the railways is now wary of providing the top of the line hardware to the passengers.  Therefore, now no personalized screens will be provided.  Only content and services.