British tycoon Richard Branson-backed Virgin Hyperloop One is proposing to build a super-fast transportation system in India that would connect the city of Pune with the planned new airport in Mumbai in 25 minutes, saving about three hours.
Branson, who is in Mumbai for the Magnetic Maharashtra summit, signed a preliminary agreement on Sunday in Mumbai for a broad hyperloop framework, the company said in a statement.
Here’s all you need to know about the ambitious project:
The system will have a capacity of 150 million passengers per year (saving more than 90 illion hours of travel time), with a potential to reduce greenhouse gases by 150,000 tons a year, according to the company.
Hyperloop is a technology in which a passenger-carrying capsule moves almost at the speed of sound using magnetic levitation through an almost air-less tube. The technology is not yet commercially operational anywhere in the world.
“Possibly, India may have this track as the first operationalised route, though Dubai is competing close,” Branson said, adding: “The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network.”
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According to him, the hyperloop will reduce accidents. Teams are working to study the feasibility of the route. Officials said the final feasibility study may be completed in six months, and construction of a test track can start in early 2019 and finish by 2021-end.
If the tests are successful, it would take about four years to build the entire Mumbai-Navi Mumbai-Pune track.
The Pune-Mumbai route could result in $$55 billion (Rs 350,000 crore) in socio-economic benefits (time savings, emissions and accident reduction, operational cost savings, etc.) over 30 years of operation, according to an initial pre-feasibility study completed by Virgin Hyperloop One.
"We have always believed that India would be a tremendous market for hyperloop. The Pune-Mumbai route is one of the strongest economic cases we have seen to-date," said Virgin Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd.
"Maharashtra has made a strong commitment to building the first hyperloop route in India. We are looking forward to partnering with the State as well as our partners to make the Pune-Mumbai route a reality," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
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