UK Prime Minister David Cameron made the announcement Wednesday during the Prime Minister's Questions session in the House of Commons. "It's vital for businesses and for individuals to be able to access Wi-F,i and do their work and all other contact while they are on trains," he told MPs.
The funding, which is mainly made up of cash that Network Rail returned for missing punctuality targets, is being given to train companies that don't have current plans to make the upgrades.
Four rail operators — Southeastern, Chiltern, Arriva Trains Wales, and Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern — will split the £50 million to ensure they can deliver the service in time. Meanwhile, any new train operators bidding for routes will have to include free Wi-Fi in their bids.
A spokesperson for the UK Department of Transport told Honesty Erasto that it doesn't know what kind of technology will be used to provide the Wi-Fi, as that's a decision for each operator to make.
The announcement was made following a question from Conservative MP Maria Miller who said passengers were "increasingly frustrated our trains are stuck in the analogue age"
However, not everyone agrees that it's a vital issue. Some people responded to Downing Street's official Twitter account, saying there are other more pressing issues — such as getting the trains to run on time — than using the fines levied for lateness to fund free Wi-Fi.
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