Pune to get Hyperloop track, Virgin Hyperloop One to invest ₹3,000 crore, PMRDA to provide land

A 15-km-long demonstration track will be built from Gahunje cricket stadium to Wakad, says PMRDA

Virgin Hyperloop One will provide 100 per cent investment (₹3,000 crore) for a 15-km-long hyperloop demonstration track, planned as a precursor to the ambitious Pune-Mumbai Hyperloop commute project, said Kiran Gitte, Pune metropolitan region development authority (PMRDA) commissioner, who was a part of the chief minister’s delegation which visited the Hyperloop test site in the Nevada desert in the US.

Representative Hyperloop station. Hyperloop is high-speed travelling in tubes, where a pod-like vehicle travels through a tube at a speed which is more than the usual airline speed.(HYPERLOOP)

The commissioner also stated that PMRDA will provide land for the project which will come up between Wakad and the Maharashtra Cricket Association’s Gahunje Stadium along the expressway.

Gitte on Monday said that the world’s largest demonstration track for the Hyperloop technology project will come up in Pune and will be 15 kilometres long.

“The company will make a hundred per cent investment and the state government will provide the land for the project,” he said. According to Gitte, the estimated cost for the demonstration track will be around ₹3,000 crore. A team from Virgin Hyperloop One will be visiting Pune soon and will finalise the route.

“The chief minister is positive about the project and has invited the company to construct a demonstration track in Pune,” he said.

The PMRDA has recommended two sites along the Pune-Mumbai Expressway and the old Pune-Mumbai highway. “The demonstration track will be constructed in such a way that it will be a part of the final Hyperloop route between Pune and Mumbai,” he added.

The Hyperloop route will link central Pune, Navi Mumbai International Airport, and Mumbai in 25 minutes.

Gitte said that it will require two to three years to complete the demonstration track and the company will need to obtain various certificates for operationalising the project. This would be the longest demonstration track set up by the company in the world, the PMRDA official said.

Last week, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and government officials including those from the PMRDA visited the Virgin Hyperloop One test site in the Nevada desert. This was the CM’s first visit to the site after signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the firm on February 18 to construct the Hyperloop commute system between Mumbai and Pune.

According to PMRDA, three lakh commuters and 1.10 lakh vehicles which includes 80,000 buses and 6,000 cars, travel between the two cities daily. The futuristic Hyperloop technology has promised to cover the distance in 25 minutes with 5,000 commuters travelling in one direction per hour.

Future of transportation

- Hyperloop is high-speed travelling in tubes, where a pod-like vehicle travels through a tube at a speed which is more than the usual airline speed.

- The Maharashtra government is exploring the transportation technology (hyperloop) for the Pune-Mumbai route with an aim to reduce the travel time to just 25 minutes each way

-According to a statement from the CMO, so far, Virgin Hyperloop One has completed the pre-feasibility study for the Pune-Mumbai route

- The hyperloop, with a speed of 350 kmph, will be able to move 10,000 passengers an hour and 150 million passengers a year once fully operational, said the Virgin Group Founder and Virgin Hyperloop One chairman

- It is capable of reaching speeds up to 1,000 kmph and will also connect the Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports.