Google launched a free and high-speed Wi-Fi service for commuters at the Mumbai Central railway station in India.
The train station, which is used by 100,000 commuters every day, is just one of the first 100 stations to enjoy the free Wi-Fi service, a project that Google hopes to be completed toward the end of the year.
Google has also partnered with Indian Railways and RailTel to help the company in its future plans of equipping India's 400 stations with the free Wi-Fi service.
"Starting today, those passing through Mumbai Central station will have access to something that we hope will make their wait a bit more enjoyable and productive - free, high-speed Wi-Fi," wrote Google in a blog post. "While we're thrilled to have the Wi-Fi at this station up and running, it's really just a small first step."
Trains are regarded as the lifeblood of India and have been the primary mode of transportation of more than 23 million people every day. Most cities are interconnected by trains, with train stations located at the heart of each city. As a result, most commuters would usually spend a lot of their time at train stations.
"I had vowed to improve [the] ailing condition of Indian Railway, and launching free Wi-Fi at Mumbai Central Station is one giant step towards improving the Railway," said Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
Back in September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi first announced the public Wi-Fi project for Indian Railways following his visit to Google's headquarters in Mountain View.
According to Google RailWire, users who have Wi-Fi-enabled devices will be able to access the public Wi-Fi service at the train station. In order to confirm if the service is available on one's handset, the user should first visit the handset's Wi-Fi settings and then choose the RailWire network. Next, they need to navigate to railwire.co.in. through their mobile browser.
Once the website has loaded, users need to enter their phone number to log in to the Wi-Fi service. After pressing the Receive SMS button, the user will receive a message that contains a 4-digit OTP. The last step is to enter the generated code into the Wi-Fi login page.
The next stations where the free Wi-Fi project will be launched are those that are located in Allahabad, Jaipur, Patna and Ranchi.
"We're delighted to launch India's first high speed public Wi-Fi service in partnership with Indian Railways," said Rajan Anandan, vice president and managing director at Google India.
