A THREE-MONTH wi-fi trial has been launched on ScotRail's Edinburgh to Glasgow service.
The £250,000 pilot will give customers free web access on the commuter route connecting Queen Street station and Waverley Station via Falkirk High.
If successful, ministers hope to see wi-fi introduced across the country's rail network.
Four of ScotRail's Class 170 trains have been kitted out for the trial, which will see one in 10 services on the Glasgow-Edinburgh Queen Street line served by wi-fi.
Transport Minister Keith Brown said: "I am delighted to kick off this wi-fi trial with ScotRail, which will play a massive part in ensuring future connectivity throughout Scotland's transport network.
"A major challenge for transport operators is how to ensure we embrace new technologies to allow passengers to get on with their busy lives while travelling.
"Business organisations have been very clear that wi-fi access on commuter routes would boost competitiveness in Scotland and this pilot is the first step to delivering that.
"We are working towards bringing the internet to every corner of Scotland, including ensuring people can get online even when they're on the move, be that commuting to and from work or travelling socially."
Liz Cameron, chief executive for Scottish Chambers of Commerce, welcomed the pilot for the business community.
She said: "This pilot project is an essential first step towards delivering the kind of connectivity that business needs in Scotland and we look forward to its extension to other routes as soon as possible."
The launch comes ahead of Mr Brown's statement to the Scottish Parliament later this week on the future of rail services in Scotland.
Both the current contract held by ScotRail for rail passenger services and the funding arrangements for Network Rail in Scotland will end in 2014.
Mr Brown said: "The Rail2014 consultation set out our stall with a vow to bring full wi-fi connection to train journeys and this pilot gets that under way.
"This will also help make train travel more attractive for many people and go towards driving up passenger numbers, a huge priority for this Scottish Government."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article