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New places where stationary commuters will be able to surf the Net are Euston, Liverpool Street, Waterloo, Victoria, Fenchurch Street, Paddington, Cannon Street, and Charing Cross.

These are the London stations. In the rest of the UK, Birmingham New Street, Leeds City, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh Waverley should be upgraded by the spring (with London Bridge and Glasgow Central to follow in the summer).

'Railway stations have always been a key target for BT Openzone,' said Steve Andrews, managing director of BT Mobile and Strategy, 'and we are delighted to announce this roll out today. BT now has an unrivalled network of hotspots at all the premium travel locations, whether you take planes, trains or automobiles.'

'This expansion forms part of our strategy of bringing increasing numbers of hotspots to key locations,' he added. 'You can now realistically leave your Hilton hotel, call into McDonald's for a coffee and catch your train and all major stops on your journey will have a BT Openzone

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access point.'

Virgin has already extended its test broadband service at railway stations to include the Birmingham International and Manchester Piccadilly stations. The initial pilot operation started with a hot-spot at London's Euston station.

Earlier this week, the wireless networking company Broadreach announced a partnership with Canada's PointShot Wireless for delivering Wi-Fi services to UK rail operators.

The intention is to provide a railway-friendly Wi-Fi 'platform' that can be delivered to the various rail network operators. It will manage the use of onboard wireless Internet services.

'We've been watching the development of Wi-Fi in the UK and throughout Europe very closely,' said PointShot Wireless President and CEO, Shawn Griffin. 'Our success in North America has proved that profitable Wi-Fi services can be realized when targeted at the business traveller and mobile consumer. We chose to partner with Broadreach because of the company's commitment to the rail market, its extensive customer base and its experience and innovation in wireless Internet services.'

GNER passengers - on one route between London, the North East and Scotland - can already get wireless access onboard trains as part of a trial project. The idea is that the Internet access will also be used by train crews for access to up-to-date travel information.

See also:

Wireless trains go online today

Virgin Trains extends trial for Internet on the move