On Tuesday, Maharashtra government accorded public infrastructure status to the Mumbai-Pune hyperloop project. The transport project is reported to cut the travel time between the two cities to just 23 minutes. The development comes after the state Cabinet during a meeting in Mumbai approved the proposal to give the hyperloop project 'public infrastructure status'. The approval is said to help the project in streamlining permissions.
According to a statement released by the Chief Minister's Office, the Cabinet also approved the formation of a consortium of DP World FZE and Hyperloop Technologies as proponents of the original project.
Hyperloop is an ultra-high-speed transport system that uses magnetic levitation in low-pressure tubes to transport people and goods at airplane-like speeds.
According to the proposed project, the transport service will run from Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), Mumbai to Wakad, Pune, covering a distance of 117.5 km. The hyperloop is expected to run at a top speed of 496 km per hour and cover the distance between Mumbai and Pune in a mere span of 23 minutes.
Currently, in order to cover the distance between the two cities, the travel time taken by trains is three-and-a-half to four hours.
Meanwhile, the project is set to be conducted in two phases by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA). In the first phase, the project will be run on a pilot basis for 11.8km from Gahunje to Usse village in Pune at a cost of ₹5,000 crore.
The stretch has been selected since it poses several technical challenges, which is said to help determine the project’s overall feasibility.
Meanwhile, if the first phase witnesses success, phase two will be greenlit. In the second phase, the service will link BKC to Wakad in 6-8 years. The total cost of the project is estimated at ₹70,000 crore, which will be raised via foreign direct investments (FDI).
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