India plans second Hyperloop project in Punjab, after Maharashtra

Chandigarh (Urban Transport News): After Maharashtra, the Punjab Government is now planning to set up Hyperloop transportation system between Amritsar and Chandigarh at a cost of Rs 56,000 crore. If implememted the total journey time between both cities will be reduced to 35-40 minutes. Sources from the government said that the Punjab government is likely to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) shortly with USA's Virgin Hyperloop One. The Virgin Hyperloop One has tied up with a leading UAE-based company to bring this ultra-modern super highspeed transportation technology to India. An official from the government said,

The prototypes of the pods to be used here are being tested in Nevada in the US and in the future they are likely to run in Toronto and Dubai also.

Hyperloop sytems

According to the plan, each hyperloop pod would have a seating capacity of 28 people and will travel at a speed of 1,000 to 1,300 kilometres per hour in a tunnel-like tube structure with almost no resistance and very low atmospheric pressure. This tunnel can be developed in underground or overground depending on the availability of land and other factors.

Hyperloop routes

At present, 233-km journey between Chandigarh and Amritsar takes around five hours by road and if hyperloop system impemmented, the total travel time will be reduced to 35-40 minutes. It has been planned to run Hyperloop from Amritsar with two middle stops at Jalandhar and Ludhiana and final destination at Chandigarh and vice versa. Two solar-powered hyperloop pods will be run at a time carrying 56 people followed by other pod pairs after short intervals.

Project cost and deadline

After the pre-feasibility study on the project, the work is expected to commence by the end of 2021 and will complete by 2029. Explaining more on the project, an official said,

After the MoU is signed and a pre-feasibility study is carried out by the company, it will then be decided how to go about the project in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, private mode or any other way. The total project cost is estimated to be around Rs 56,000 crore.

Smt. Vinni Mahajan, IAS and Additional Chief Secretary, Investment Promotion and Industry and Commerce, Punjab, said,

The state government is proposing to sign an MoU with this company for bringing this new technology, which will be beneficial in the long run, to the state. Then a pre-feasibility study will be carried out. The Maharashtra government has already signed an MoU with them.

It is learnt that this hyperloop is an open-source design of mass transportation system technology built around the tube and capsule concept in which a pod-like vehicle travels through a tunnel at very high speed and carries people and freight. It is pertient to mention here that the Maharashtra government recently approved hyperloop project to run between Pune and Mumbai. An Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) has also been signed with the Virgin Hyperloop One company for this technology so that the travel time between both cities can be reduced to 23 minutes.