When Elon Musk came up with the concept of Hyperloop back in 2012, never did one imagine that six years down the line we will have engineers and companies vying to make Musk’s proposed fifth mode of transport a reality on the ground. Such has been the growth in this field owing to the technology being kept an open source and subject to various changes and advancements as desired by individual makers, Hyperloop has certainly made its way from an individual’s whim to a mode of transport with a potential to change how humans travel in near future.

What is Hyperloop?

A hyperloop is a mode of transport wherein long set of tubes are placed between any two focal points and the entire system is kept at low pressure. A pod which is expected to carry passengers and freight will then be pushed through the tube at twice the speed of commercial flights in the artificial vacuum created .

There is no official word on the number of companies currently working on the commercialisation of the concept of hyperloop technology but more and more organisation are now backing individuals/groups with funds and expertise to make rapid advancements. Elon Musk’s Space X has been holding Hyperloop design competitions to build and test pods to be used in Hyperloop.

The other leading and well-known names associated with this raging phenomenon that is Hyperloop, are Hyperloop One and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. Various countries are now looking at Hyperloop project as an alternative approach to provide a faster mode of transport to its people. Being a cost effective and environment friendly technology has certainly been the driving factor behind this sudden interest of governments.

What is Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop Project?

During the Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence 2018, Maharashtra government signed an intent agreement with the Virgin Hyperloop One, a Richard Branson investee company with the mission to bring home India's first operational hyperloop transportation system by 2025. It aims to bring down the travel time between the two cities separated by a distance of 140 km to a staggering 25 minutes from the current duration of 4 hours. The company has stated that the project might well turn out to be the world's first operational hyperloop project. The Virgin Hyperloop One has already completed the preliminary assessment of the environment and will now focus on the in-depth analysis of the engineering model. It plans to go fully operational in next 6-7 years.

Details of Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop Project Shared by Richard Branson:

The Pune-Mumbai route could result in USD $55 billion (INR ₹350,000 crores) in socio-economic benefits, time savings, accident reduction and operational cost savings, over 30 years of operation, tweets Branson on Virgin Hyperloop One.

Here are the 10 Routes Selected and Identified by Hyperloop One as Its First Ten Potential high-Speed Tunnel-based Transport System Around The World

Country Potential Hyperloop One Routes Distance
U.S. Cheyenne – Denver – Puelbo 579 Kilometres
  Chicago – Columbus – Pittsburgh 785 Kilometres
  Miami – Orlando 413 Kilometres
  Dallas – Houston 1030 Kilometres
U.K. Edinburgh – London 666 Kilometres
  Glasgow – Liverpool 545 Kilometres
Mexico Mexico City – Guadalajara 854 Kilometres
India Bengaluru – Chennai 335 Kilometres
  Mumbai – Chennai 1102 Kilometres
Canada Toronto – Montreal 643 Kilometres

Other Notable Developments and proposed Hyperloop plans

Amravati-Vijayawada Hyperloop Project

There are reports of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies tying up with the Andhra Pradesh government to develop an alternate hyperloop link between two of its leading cities - Vijayawada and Amravati, the proposed capital city. The state plans to pitch its capital city as high-tech city and thus has plans to build a network to cut down the travel time to 5 minutes between the two metropolises from the existing duration of one hour. The project is expected to be executed on PPP (Public Private Partnership) model.

Dubai - Abu Dhabi Hyperloop Project

Hyperloop One signed an agreement with Dubai Roads and Transport Authority to create a hyperloop network between Dubai and Abu Dhabi to cut down the travel time to 12 minutes from the existing 2 hours. Hyperloop One has provided no timescale for the completion of the project but has recently displayed design structures which could be used in the Dubai Hyperloop project. The UAE government has an ambitious plan to link Dubai with neighbouring countries with similar hyperloop projects in near future.

New York and Washington DC Hyperloop Project

In 2017, Elon Musk confirmed that he had received "verbal" approval to start building Speed Tunnel-based underground transport system linking the major US cities - New York and Washington. That will cut down the travel time between these cities to less than half an hour.

His tweet stated – “Just received verbal govt approval for The Boring Company to build an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop. NY-DC in 29 mins.”

The Hyperloop technology has had its fair share of critics who have questioned its feasibility and have strong reservations when it comes to the safety features provided by Hyperloop. It will be interesting to note in the coming years how much success the companies garner by making note of the time-bound delivery of projects. If its sadly not the case, then Hyperloop may well turn out to be just another 'Hype'.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 19, 2018 11:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).