Silicon Republic, one of the main irish Technology websites, published an article on the lack of public wifi internet access on Irish trains. In the article it quotes Evert Bopp, Airappz’s CEO. He is quoted saying that: “Evert Bopp, said that Iarnród Éireann’s response isn’t good enough.”

Some civil servant must have Googled WiMax for that answer! WiMax isn’t currently widely available in Ireland and may not be available the entire length of a train journey.

Wi-Fi is a technology that will be around for the foreseeable future. The installation costs are very low and providers like Amtrak in the UK and Thalys on mainland Europe are creating an avenue for ancillary revenues.

I ran a poll on my blog and the majority of voters said they would use it. If Iarnród Éireann deployed this service, it could make it more attractive for people to ditch the car and take the train instead. At the very least, they would be more productive, being able to get work done on the way to the office. This is extremely short-sighted on Iarnród Éireann’s part.

As well as providing for ancillary revenue, Bopp said that Iarnród Éireann could also use the Wi-Fi service to push out important information like timetable changes and new service offerings.

The full article can be read here.