Mangaluru: Free Wi-Fi facility was formally launched at the Central Railway Station here on Saturday. Mangaluru Central is the first station in the State to have the round-the-clock facility provided by RailTel in association with Google. RailTel will provide it across 400 A1 and A category railway stations of which 100 will have it in this financial year.

Passengers can access Wi-Fi on platforms and at the reservation counter. After switching on the Wi-Fi option in the smart phone, a window pops up asking for the mobile number. When the number is typed, an SMS displaying the OTP number is sent. The RailWire Wi-Fi service will start after the number is entered.

Naresh Laalvaani, Divisional Railway Manager (Palakkad Division), told presspersons that the launch would fulfil the aims of the Digital India initiative.

An official from RailTel said passengers could stream high density videos, download movies, songs, and games and do their work online. RailTel was providing high speed end-to-end network connectivity on fibre and Google was providing Radio Access Network and technical support. There are more than 4.8 million people using the facility across 74 railways stations in India.

The official said the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Station in Bengaluru, which has an old Wi-Fi facility, and Yeshwantapur Railway Station are among the 100 stations where the faster RailWire WiFi faclity would be in operation by the end of this financial year. The Kalaburagi, Hubballi and Mysuru Railway stations are also covered under 100 stations. Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, dedicated the facility to the nation. J.R. Lobo, MLA, and Ivan D’Souza, MLC, were present.