On Proposed Hyperloop in Maharashtra, State Govt Says Let it be Implemented Abroad First

Asked if the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state was thinking of scrapping the project, Pawar said he did not say so.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday asserted that the state government will consider pursuing Hyperloop, a futuristic transport system, after it is shown to be practicable in other countries.

Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, said it has not been implemented anywhere in the world yet.

“Let it happen somewhere else. Let it become successful for at least a 10 km distance somewhere abroad,” he said.

Asked if the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state was thinking of scrapping the project, Pawar said he did not say so.

“We do not have the capacity to experiment with Hyperloop. We will concentrate on other modes of transport and in the meantime, if that technology develops more with successful trials abroad, we can think about it,” he added.

It must be noted that the earlier BJP-led government had announced that a Hyperloop would be built between Pune and Mumbai which will reduce the travel time between the two cities drastically.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk mentioned the Hyperloop concept in 2012. It contemplates a system of sealed tubes through which a pod may travel free of air resistance at great speeds.

The Hyperloop system consists of a small pod-like vehicle that is propelled through near-vacuum sealed tubes at a speed similar to that of an aeroplane. The theory is that such a pod will travel at close to 1,200 km per hour without consuming a lot of fuel and energy.

(With agency inputs)