Google promises Wi-Fi to 100 railway stations in India

The Wi-Fi project was announced by Sundar Pichai after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Google CEO Sundar Pichai today briefed about the company's partnership with the Indian Railways and said that 100 railway stations would have Wi-Fi by December 2016.

Pichai said that Mumbai Central would be the first railway station to get Wi-Fi.

Internet major Google and state-run RailTel Corp of India have joined hands to equip 400 railway stations in the country with high speed Wi-Fi networks, making it one of the largest public Wi-Fi projects in the world.

The Wi-Fi project was announced by Pichai after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Google is also upgrading its Indian maps.

"The user community has helped them map a city like Madurai. It is the map maker here in India that taught Google that the community should be a critical part in other sectors of the world as well," Pichai said.

Offline maps too have been introduced in the country as many still are on a 2G connection.

"Users can download the map when they have connectivity and then use the maps when in a patchy area or an area with no connectivity," he added.

India is in the top five countries that download the map and use them in the offline mode.