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Free Wi-Fi for Brisbane commuters

The rollout is an "Australian first", says Queensland Transport Minister, Annastacia Palaszczuk

Brisbane commuters will get free Wi-Fi on Queensland Rail's city network from later this year.

Queensland Transport Minister, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the $6.5 million Wi-Fi rollout on new metropolitan passenger trains was an Australian first.

It has been given the go-ahead after a successful trial.

"This has never been done before on trains in Australia so we are again raising the bar when it comes to customer service," Palaszczuk said on Friday.

Installation on the first of 64 new trains will begin in October.

The long haul Sunlander passenger train is expected to have Wi-Fi available in 2014.

Queensland Rail chief, Paul Scurrah, said the trial had allowed technological bugs to be ironed out.

"It was essential to get everything right in the trial to avoid costly and time-consuming issues when the technology was installed more broadly," Scurrah said.

He said Wi-Fi also gave the trains a security benefit.

"This project isn't only about free internet for our customers," Scurrah said.

"It also increases our security capacity by allowing live streaming from our CCTV cameras on board the Wi-Fi trains."

More than 5000 passengers used the service during the trial.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: CTV, etwork, Queensland Rail

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