Cities: Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat stations to be Wi-Fi enabled by April-end.

Select railway stations in Gujarat will soon turn into hotspots. The ministry of railways has already set the ball rolling for making four stations -- Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot -- wi-fi enabled by the end of this month.

RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, a telecom and IT wing under the ministry, has selected the four railway stations for providing wi-fi connectivity. Within the next couple of weeks, passengers will be able to use their laptops at these stations, said senior officials of RailTel.

The move is aimed at providing high-speed Internet connectivity at railways stations. RailTel also plans to install wi-max facility to provide connectivity to remote railway stations at a later stage.

The project will be implemented on public-private partnership basis. RailTel officials also said that customers will have to shell out a nominal amount to avail of the wi-fi services at these stations.

The ministry plans to provide wi-fi connectivity to around 80 railway stations across the country. Currently, five stations, including Bangalore and Delhi, have been provided this facility on a trial basis. According to ministry officials, as many as 20 railway stations across the country, including four in Gujarat, will go live in April.