Skip to main content

Virgin Hyperloop signs MoU with Government of Maharashtra on preliminary study

Virgin Hyperloop One has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Maharashtra to conduct a preliminary study in the Indian region. The test aims to analyse the applicability and benefits of hyperloop technology, identify high priority routes within the State based on demand analysis and socio-economic benefits, and inform the Government of in any future decision to progress to the full project stage. Hyperloop One could benefit passengers by reducing a three hour car journey from Mumbai
November 17, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

Virgin Hyperloop One has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Maharashtra to conduct a preliminary study in the Indian region. The test aims to analyse the applicability and benefits of hyperloop technology, identify high priority routes within the State based on demand analysis and socio-economic benefits, and inform the Government of any future decision to progress to the full project stage.

Hyperloop One could benefit passengers by reducing a three hour car journey from Mumbai to Prune to 14 minutes. In addition, it has the potential to streamline airport connectivity, such as connecting Pune's new Purandar Airport to the city center or Navi Mumbai International Airport to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. To improve passenger and freight transportation, it could also look at connecting Nagpur, which is in the easternmost part of Maharashtra, with Mumbai and Pune.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, 65% of freight is transported on the country’s congested road networks.

Hon. chief minister of Maharashtra, Shri. Devendra Fadnavis, said: A hyperloop route requires high-density traffic to become viable as a means of rapid public transit. Mumbai and Pune, the most and seventh most populous cities in India respectively, have the potential to provide an optimal route with a high density. By reducing travel time to under 20 minutes, a hyperloop route will help intensify the connectivity between the metropolitan regions of Pune and Mumbai, transforming the two cities into India's first and largest Megapolis,".

Related Content

  • Underinvestment in infrastructure threatens economic growth
    January 24, 2012
    The 2011 Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute highlights the dangers of continued underinvestment in transportation infrastructure but also offers some hope in terms of possible solutions
  • ITS solutions to keep truck traffic moving
    June 8, 2015
    David Crawford reviews freight management initiatives. Managing truck traffic to minimise its environmental impacts, without adversely impacting on its critical economic role, continues to drive ITS-based solutions in both urban and interurban contexts.
  • Latest ITS technology upgrades India's toll systems
    November 13, 2012
    An ambitious programme of new and upgraded interoperable toll systems has been launched in India, featuring far-reaching technology developments. David Crawford reports. In April this year, Indian Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways CP Joshi inaugurated a new era of electronic toll collection (ETC) in India when he unveiled the country’s first RFID-based tolling installation. This was at a recently-completed plaza at Chandimandir, near the city of Panchkula in the northern state of Haryana. The sys
  • Motown morphs into Mobility City
    August 7, 2018
    Detroit was once a byword for urban decay – but ITS America recently held its annual meeting there. This gave David Arminas a chance to assess how fast Motor City is moving down the road to recovery. Motor City, as Detroit is still called, was on its financial knees only five short years ago. The future looked bleak as the city and greater urban area bled jobs and population. It was on 18 July 2013 that Motown, as Detroit is also known, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, the