Passengers passing through Patna Junction have reason to cheer. The trial run of the Wi-fi service at the station started on Thursday.

Over the next week, the service would be officially launched. Till then, passengers can use the free service and browse as much as they like.

The Wi-fi machine was found installed at every platform of Patna Junction on Thursday. However, being the first day, very few passengers were aware of it and most of them were spotted using their Internet through mobile data.

RailTel Corporation of India Limited is providing the Wi-fi service. It has signed an agreement with Mahataa Information India Pvt Ltd, an arm of Google Inc, to provide Wi-fi services to as many as 400 stations in two phases.

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu launched the Google's free Wi-Fi service at Kachiguda, Vijaywada and Raipur, expanding the high speed Internet network facility.

In the first phase, 100 stations of A1 and A categories are being covered with the offering, while the service would be extended to 300 stations in the second phase.

Patna Junction falls under A1 category. The classification of railway stations has been done on the basis of facilities available. The Wi-fi project at Patna Junction started in August 2014.

Atul Shankar (36), a resident of Boring Road, waiting at platform number one, was thrilled to hear about the free Wi-fi service at the junction. He whipped out the mobile from his pocket and started browsing immediately. The first website he opened was the company he works for. The smile could not be missed.

"I cannot believe this. Patna has really gone this far in terms of technology. Look how fast the websites are opening. I must congratulate the railways for this. I hope the charges are nominal," said Atul.

The Wi-fi service is available at all 10 platforms of Patna Junction. During the trial run, as one enters the junction, he can just turn on the Wi-fi button and it would instantly connect to the RailTel Internet.

One has to enter the mobile number after which one would receive a one-time password. After entering it, users are connected to the Wi-fi service.

A passenger from Patthar Ki Masjid in Patna City, Mohammad Aftab Alam, who works as a software engineer in Bangalore, said: "Internet is a fundamental need in these times. You require it all the time. I am happy that the railways has started this service at Patna Junction."

During the trial run, passengers will get free Internet connectivity. Once formally launched, it would cost Rs 25 for half-an-hour and Rs 40 for an hour after the initial first 20 minutes free service.

East Central Railway senior divisional signal and telecom engineer Mudit Kumar Shrivastava said: "It is on a trial run period for a week. We are checking the speed of the Internet, it goes up to 6Mbps at certain places."

To use the service, passengers have to buy scratch cards from the Wi-fi centre at the junction. Later, the facility of online payment would also be added to this for the convenience of passengers.#