First Ever Hyperloop Train Will Make Pune-Mumbai Commute Possible In Under 30 Minutes

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Those who need to commute daily through the painstaking traffic of Mumbai, feel the need for a solution that could magically minimise their travel time. Well, the Maharashtra Government has heard their pleas and has granted their wishes too! In an ambitious Pune-Mumbai hyperloop project, the state government has collaborated with Virgin Hyperloop One-DP World consortium to make the journey between the two cities possible in under 30 minutes.

This one-of-its-kind public infrastructure project has been accorded to Virgin Hyperloop One, while DP World (DPW), a global trade leader and Virgin Hyperloop One's largest investor, will be investing $500 million to complete phase 1 of the project.

"Maharashtra will create the first hyperloop transportation system in the world and a global hyperloop supply chain starting from Pune. Maharashtra and India are at the forefront of hyperloop infrastructure building now and this is a moment of pride for our people," mentioned Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in a statement on 31 July.

This hyperloop train will cover a total distance of 117.5 km and will run at a speed of 496 km/h between BKC in Mumbai and Wakad in Pune. It will take less than 30 minutes to cover the distance, that usually costs more or less three-and-a-half hours by train or by road.

Not only will this project link the two major hubs in Maharashtra within an unbelievable time span, but also will also ease highway congestion and create numerous job opportunities. Virgin Hyperloop One said in a statement, "The project will create hundreds of thousands of new high-tech jobs, generate over $36 billion in wider socio-economic benefits, and create new hyperloop component and manufacturing opportunities for Maharashtra to export to the rest of the world."

The whole project will take seven years to complete. According to a recent PTI report, the train will be run on a pilot basis for a distance of 11.8 km in the Pune metropolitan region in the first phase of the project.

"Support for hyperloop transportation systems is mounting across the world and India has led the charge to bring hyperloop to fruition since the early stages of development," said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, group chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Virgin Hyperloop One.

It will be interesting to see how this state of the art project changes the future of transportation.