Nearly a week after news surfaced of a teenage railway rider renting out access to his personal WiFi hotspot, officials of the Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) Industrial Alliance announced that WiFi access will soon be provided on China's railways.

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Lack of WiFi on trains has been a longstanding complaint of railway travelers but until now, railway authorities remained silent on when, or if, wireless services would be provided.

According to the People's Daily, the system that will be used was jointly developed by the Beijing Feitian Technology Company, the Southwest Communications University in Chongqing and railway authorities. 

It will make its debut on the high-speed trains running between Chengdu and Chongqing. No word has been given, however, as to whether the service will be available for free or for a fee, and when it will be expanded to other train lines.

The service has been in development for a year, said Duan Shiping, an official from the Beijing Feitian Technology Company. The testing allowed researchers, Duan added, to resolve a range of technical issues such as obtaining and retaining a good signal for the duration of the trip. Eventually, the development group was able to develop a railway WiFi standard which authorities are now studying.

Passengers should look forward to a WiFi service that will offer an "online management platform" and "rich recreation resources," said Duan.

The WAPI Industrial Alliance  was created in 2006 when a group of WAPI operators joined forces to promote the industrialization of China's WAPI standard. The alliance includes some of China's top technology companies such as Huawei, Lenovo, China Mobile and China Unicom.