Source: newindianexpress.com
PATNA: In a first for the Indian Railways, the Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR) has come up with an ‘Entertainment-on-Demand’ (EoD) facility for passengers through an in-coach video and audio streaming platform.
The facility will allow the passengers onboard to watch videos and listen to audio of their choice from a large digital library to kill the boredom during the journey. More interestingly, it would be free of cost for the entire journey.
On Monday at Danapur divisional HQ, a formal demonstration of this first-of-its-kind service was made by senior divisional commercial manager Aahdar Raj following the direction of DRM PK Thakur.
Spokesperson of Division, Sanjay Kumar Prasad said: “This kind of entertainment facility can be availed by passengers on board initially in select eight long journey express trains including the Patna-New Delhi Rajdhani through their devices like laptop, smart mobile phones using local wireless connectivity within the coaches without wasting their data”. Prasad said that EoD is being provided by Danapur division for the first time in the history of Indian Railways.
“The said facility will be made available for use in the Rajdhani express and the Sampooran Kranti express by July and in six other express trains by August 15 this year”, he claimed, adding that the objective behind launching this facility is to make the train journey memorable and to give an experience similar to that of an international flight. There would a digital hub of around 7000 Bollywood, Hollywood new and old movies and 12000 different programs under various subjects of public interest also.
Besides video and audio delights, Prasad said: “special category for elderly passengers will be available which includes devotional songs, movies, artis, bhajans. For kids, videos and audios on culture, general awareness, education and other healthy information would be available”.
The six express trains slated to have the facility from August are the Patna-Mumbai Suvidha express, Patna-Bandra Humsafar express, Patna-Kota Express-I, Patna-Howrah Jan Shatbdi express and Patna-Ranchi Janshatbdi express and the Patna-Kota express-II.
Prasad said that the process for launching this facility is near completion. “Following the response of passengers after the initial launch in eight trains, it can be considered to provide this facility in 70 other mail and express trains of the division in future”, he said.