The Ministry of Railways will collaborate with IIT Madras for the development of an "indigenous" Hyperloop system and will also help set-up a Centre of Excellence for Hyperloop Technologies at the premier institute, officials said Thursday. In 2017, the then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had expressed his interest in the Hyperloop technology, saying that India would be keenly watching the project and since then, several rounds of talks over the proposed project had been held between the ministry and US-based Hyperloop One, but nothing substantial emerged.
Hyperloop works on a technology that would use magnetic levitation in low-pressure tubes to transport people and goods at airplane-like speeds. The low energy requirement and the significant role that this technology can play in making India Carbon neutral, makes Hyperloop mode of transportation an attractive proposition for Indian Railways, the ministry said in a statement.
The group had finished in top-10 global ranking at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition-2019 and was the only Asian team to do so. The student team “Avishkar Hyperloop” had also bagged the ‘Most Scalable Design Award’ at the European Hyperloop Week – 2021. IIT Madras approached Ministry of Railways in March-2022 with a proposal for collaborative working on development of contactless pod prototype and development of first-of-its-kind Hyperloop Test Facility at its Discovery Campus (at Thaiyur).
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