CHENNAI: Passengers will soon be able to browse the net as they wait for trains at

Chennai Central

, with the station set to become the first in the country to offer

Wi-Fi

connectivity.

Union railway minister DV Sadananda Gowda visits the Royapuram railway station.

The plan was officially inaugurated by railway minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Friday. It will take a few more days for passengers to be able to use the Wi-Fi facility. The Union minister also inspected the Royapuram railway station. When TOI visited the station at around 7.15pm, the designated Wi-Fi centre was empty and padlocked.According to senior railway officials, the Wi-Fi system will have a signal booster to maintain 512kbps bandwidth speed for up to 60 metres at the station. The estimated cost of the project is 60 lakh, officials said, adding that they would make periodic improvements in the system.“Passengers will be directed to a login page and will receive a one-time password that they can use to access the net through the Wi-Fi system,” a senior official of the railways’ technical wing said. The first 30 minutes of browsing will be free. Passengers will face restrictions on uploading of data but there will be no restrictions on downloading data from the internet. A top-up to extend browsing time beyond the first 30 minutes can be secured by an online payment.During Gowda’s inspection of the Royapuram railway station, he assured residents that the ministry will discuss and coordinate with the state government on their long-pending demand that Royapuram be upgraded to a passenger station to ease congestion at Egmore and Central stations.