Geek Time

Free Wi–Fi service on Capitol Corridor trains was welcome news to passengers. They’d tell you all about it, if you could get them to put down their smartphones or laptop computers.

Effective Monday, passengers traveling on the Capitol Corridor, the San Joaquin and the Pacific Surfliner trains can connect to the Internet through AmtrakConnect for Web surfing and using email, officials announced.

Passengers also can access corporate networks through most Virtual Private Networks (VPN), making train trips a good time to catch up on work.

“It made the ride easier because you can entertain yourself on the ‘Net,” said Booker Dabis, who took the train from Richmond to Sacramento with his son Monday afternoon. “It’s like you’re at home.”

Dabis said while the connection was slower than he is used to, it worked without interruption.

Charian DeAmeral of Sacramento said she can use her tablet computer without having to bum a connection off other passengers with a mobile hotspot.

DeAmeral said it had been disappointing to have wireless service come and go during her frequent trips to the Bay Area.

Melissa Campbell of New York had settled in for the ride from Sacramento to the Bay Area and was surprised to learn of the free Wi-Fi.

The Wi-Fi was funded by state passenger rail agencies reinvesting cost savings from other completed rail projects.

“Free Wi-Fi is our early holiday gift to loyal train passengers who have wanted this service for some time,” said David Kutrosky, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority managing director.

More than 5.5 million passengers rode the three state-supported trains this fiscal year, up more than 7.5 percent.

California rail service providers have been working on offering Wi-Fi for more than five years. But pilot projects have yielded less than ideal results, said Debbie Mullins, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation.

“We didn’t want to deliver something that didn’t work,” Mullins said.

The biggest obstacle was limited bandwidth through third-party cellular data networks along many routes, according to a news release.

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