2.6 Crore Indians, 350k Crore Saving: How Hyperloop One Will Connect Mumbai & Pune At 500 Kmph

As the conventional modes of transport become inadequate for several regions in India, authorities are now eyeing innovative solutions to the issues faced by commuters in the country. One of these, and probably the most dynamic one, is a Hyperloop stretch that promises to connect distances like Pune to Mumbai in the shortest time possible.

A brainchild of tech billionaire Elon Musk, the idea is outright revolutionary for the transportation industry. It is the fastest, most economical (at least in the long run) and completely emission-less way of travelling. But what is it? How does it work? And why India and the rest of the world need it? We try to find the answers.

What is Hyperloop?

Consider it a futuristic mode of travel because, well, it is. It is nothing like anything in existence to date or even remotely close to any prevalent mode of travel. Why? A short answer - it does not work on a propelling engine of its own. Another short answer, it is the only one that makes use of an altered environment to run.

To date, every vehicle known to mankind uses some or the other engine to power it through land, water or air. Hyperloop, on the other hand, will use vacuum for moving. It will basically involve a pod carrying passengers or goods, which will move within a long vacuum tube at great speeds. So essentially, it will not be the pod moving on its own but the vacuum in the tube and electric propulsion moving it through.

A Hyperloop tunnel in which the passenger pod will run. (Image: Virgin Hyperloop One)

Also read: Tesla's Latest Effort To Save Earth - A 3 MWh Battery 'Megapack' For Energy Supply At Peak Loads

To visualise this, imagine a pod with passengers floating above a track in an enclosed tunnel at an enormous speed. The loss of friction and air drag due to the enclosed vacuumated tunnel will result in speeds which have never been seen before in land travel. Interestingly, the entire system will be autonomous, meaning no human drivers required.

What started this?

The entire concept of Hyperloop was initiated by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who expressed his wish for a connected mode of transport unlike any existing one through a white paper he released in the summer of 2013. He imagined such long vacuum tubes carrying pods with passengers in them.

The idea appealed to the experts across the industry instantaneously and there was a simple reason for that. All the technology required for such an architecture was already present! Musk had simply combined the use of linear electric motors, magnetic levitation and vacuum pumps in one concept. A simple combination but one that was never imagined before!

Elon Musk renders of how a Hyperloop will work (Image: SpaceX Hyperloop Alpha white paper)

The white paper spread like wildfire in the transportation regime. It was an outright brilliant idea and one that held a promise of a revolution in the industry. A new and promising mode of transport had suddenly been thought of after more than a century!

The Indian connect

Cut back to 2019 and the Hyperloop now has several players involved, all for the same motive, to create an emission free, extremely efficient mode of travel in countries worldwide. What¡¯s interesting is that the entire industry works more like a brotherhood than competitors. Virgin Hyperloop One, the one responsible for the Mumbai Pune project in India, mentions on its website that they ¡°share the same goal [as Musk] of wanting to see Hyperloop become a reality worldwide.¡±

These players have now initiated projects across several countries. In India, Virgin Hyperloop One just got the approval for the Mumbai Pune Hyperloop stretch by the Government of Maharashtra cabinet. The authorities had been in talks for the project since long. Now an official infrastructure project, the Mumbai-Pune route is expected to be operational somewhere in the mid 2020s, i.e. 2024/25.

Virgin Hyperloop One pod designed for the Mumbai Pune route in India (Image: Virgin Hyperloop One)

Also read: India Is Now Producing The World's Cheapest Solar Power, Prices To Come Down Further

Mumbai-Pune route

The Virgin Hyperloop One route planned for Pune and Mumbai will connect central Pune to Navi Mumbai International Airport and Mumbai. As per the company¡¯s official release, the journey will take only 25 minutes in total. In comparison, this is a 3-hour journey by train and a 3.5-hour journey by road.

The reduction in travel time is simply because of the mind boggling speed at which the Hyperloop will operate. Virgin Hyperloop One mentions that the top speed possible for its passenger vehicle or light cargo will be 670 miles per hour or 1080 kilometers per hour. That is more than twice the speed of the fastest trains known to mankind. The Mumbai-Pune line, however, will initially run at a top speed of around 500 kmph.

Travel time estimate of a Hyperloop and other travel modes. (Image: Virgin Hyperloop One)

How India benefits

Back in June last year, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, and representatives from the State Government visited Virgin Hyperloop One at their full-scale test site in the Nevada Desert. Meeting the company¡¯s top executives there, the groups discussed the ongoing feasibility study for the planned project in Maharashtra. Some interesting insights were released by Virgin Hyperloop One afterwards -

As per the study, the Mumbai Pune Hyperloop stretch will support ¡°150 million passenger trips annually¡± once in operation. With this, the study estimates a saving of ¡°90 million hours of travel time¡± and a jaw dropping saving of Rs 350,000 crores in socio-economic benefits -including time savings, emissions and accident reduction, operational cost savings, etc. over 30 years of its operation.

Maharashtra CM and state officials with Virgin Hyperloop One team at Nevada desert. (Image: Virgin Hyperloop One)

And that¡¯s not all! Being an emission free commute, the Hyperloop stretch is also estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 150,000 tons annually. That is a big plus for the environment that is suffering dire consequences due to the existing transportation means in India. Richard Branson, Chairman - Virgin Hyperloop One and one of the most successful entrepreneurs at present, encouragingly said ¡°Virgin Hyperloop One can help India become a global transportation pioneer and forge a new world-changing industry."

So as Mumbai and Pune gear up for the most revolutionary mode of transport seen in the country since a century, the pilot project will also prove to be a major testing ground for the rest of the cities in the country. After an initial operation, the Mumbai Pune route will be extended to Chennai. Several other cities are in talks too and as Indians will embrace a faster, cheaper and an environmental friendly way of travelling, we will have a live demonstration of how sustainable development is the only way forward.