NEW DELHI: Escalatorsat railway stations, CCTV cameras in trains, Wi-Fi facility in trains and stations and world-class facilities at 600 stations. The Union government tried to woo rail travellers with a slew of amenities.
With the focus on providing better amenities to train passengers, the budget announced that all stations with more than 25,000 footfalls will have escalators. Recently, the Railway Board added the new criteria of passenger footfall, apart from earnings, for the classification of railway stations. It was decided that all railway stations and trains will be progressively provided with Wi-Fi services.
A pilot study on providing Internet connectivity in trains is already in progress in some premium trains and select stations. The redevelopment of 600 major railway stations is being taken up by the Indian Railway Station Development Corporation Ltd. With passenger security a cause of concern, the Railways plan to cover all stations and trains with CCTV cameras. Modern trainsets with state-of-the-art amenities and features are being designed at ICF, Perambur, and the first such train-set will be commissioned in 2018-19.