India Holds Ground as Hyperloop Hype Declines
In 2013, when Elon Musk conceived the idea of hyperloop, it sounded revolutionary and was destined to change how we travelled. Yet, more than 10 years later, the idea has faced significant challenges in transitioning from concept to widespread implementation. Hyperloop One, one of the ambitious companies that aimed to propel humans in pods through high-speed tubes, potentially surpassing the speeds of bullet trains, is on the verge of shutting down. Share your leadership insights: Fill our Survey >> The American company raised funds from Khosla Ventures, which has invested in OpenAI, and billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Branson himself spoke highly about the technology and, in 2018, ensured that hyperloops were nearing reality. Yet, in the following years, the company shifted its focus from passengers to freight, and Virgin severed its ties with the company. Now, according to a Bloomberg report, the company is trying to sell its remaining assets. India was the perfect launch pad Hyperloop gained significant attention, largely due to the advocacy and promotion of the idea by Elon Musk. Companies like Hyperloop One and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) wanted to transform Musk’s travel pod concept into reality and India emerged as the ideal location for launching their projects. This is because India was in need of a faster transportation system to keep up with its growing economic landscape. In 2019, the Maharashtra government approved Hyperloop One’s plans to develop the world’s first hyperloop system in the state. The project, a joint venture between the Maharashtra government and Hyperloop One, aimed to connect Pune to Mumbai and reduce the time taken to travel between the two cities from three hours to 25 minutes. Previously, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) also submitted a letter of intent to Indian transport minister Nitin Gadkari in 2017. Gadkari offered a huge chunk of land in Maharashtra to test the Hyperloop project. “I offered them the westerly bypass of Pune connected to the Express Highway. The idea is they can run an experiment between Mumbai and Pune as a pilot project,” the minister said back then. Hyperloop dream in India is pretty much alive Despite interest from Hyperloop One and HTT, no substantial progress materialised in India. However, the Hyperloop dream is not dead altogether. Quintrans Hyperloop, a Pune-based startup, is now building a working prototype that can carry cargo on a large scale before the end of this year. The startup wants to build the first hyperloop system in Asia and at a relatively low cost. According to Pranay Luniya, co-founder and CEO at Quintrans, their hyperloop system would cost around INR 150-200 crore. In comparison, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project involves an estimated overall cost of INR 1,10,000 crore. “Quintrans started in 2021 to develop hyperloop and ultra high-speed mobility solutions for India. The founders started as a research unit in MIT Pune in 2018, representing the country at multiple international events, including the SpaceX Hyperloop POD competition and the European Hyperloop Week,” Luniya told AIM. Luniya and his team want to commercialise hyperloop systems in India, starting from freight and then moving towards human passengers. So far, the company has raised more than USD 100,000 and is currently working to develop a 100-metre pilot setup in Pune. “This pilot will be the first of its kind in India and will be a full-scale setup that will showcase technologies like vacuum, levitation, and propulsion. We intend to complete this by the end of this year and showcase it to the relevant authorities”. Moreover, TuTr Hyperloop, which began a project at IIT Madras, is building Asia’s first hyperloop testing facility in Chennai. The team has partnered with ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel to develop a 400-metre vacuum tube to test levitating pods at up to 200 kilometres/hour. Still a long way to go While both Quintrans and the team at IIT Madras remain committed to solving India’s transportation problems with the hyperloop technology, both projects are in their research and prototyping phase. A substantial timeframe is still needed before a viable outcome emerges. A notable criticism of the sector is the failure of many projects to progress from conceptualisation to actualisation. Nonetheless, despite enduring setbacks in the sector over the years, optimism persists. “We still are positive to see a working commercial hyperloop by the end of this decade. As we go ahead, we will see more validation of the technology and its application for both passenger and cargo hyperloop,” Luniya added. Interestingly, in 2022, Chinese media reported that a group of researchers had successfully carried out a systematic test of a hyperloop system and aim to build a fully functional system by 2035. Besides, despite Hyperloop One being on the verge of shutting down, HTT, one of its main competitors, has won a bid to develop a hyperloop system in Northern Italy. A few more projects remain active in Europe at the moment.
An Indian startup is developing a 100-metre pilot setup in Pune.
Despite interest from Hyperloop One and HTT, no substantial progress materialised in India. However, the Hyperloop dream is not dead.
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I have a keen interest in creative writing and artificial intelligence. As a journalist, I deep dive into the world of technology and analyse how it’s restructuring business models and reshaping society.