Maharashtra CM meets Virgin Hyperloop, Oracle officials during US visit

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is on a three-nation tour, on Saturday set the ball rolling for two mega projects — the Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop, and setting up of advanced data centres in Mumbai.

Fadnavis visited the test-site of Virgin Hyperloop One in Nevada, in the United States and met the company’s CEO and board member, Rob Lloyd. This was the CM’s first visit to the site after signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the firm on February 18 to construct the hyperloop commute system between Mumbai and Pune.

The Maharashtra government is exploring this transportation technology (hyperloop) for the Mumbai-Pune route with an aim to reduce the travel time to just 25 minutes each way. According to a statement from the CMO, so far, Virgin Hyperloop One has completed the pre-feasibility study for the Mumbai-Pune route.

“During the meeting with the CEO, Fadnavis discussed the feasibility of fast-tracking the deployment roadmap. Up to now, for the hyperloop, Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority has identified 15-km demonstration track,” the statement added. Virgin HyperloopOne plans to send engineers to Pune shortly to conduct a study, it said. According to details of the project, 70% of materials and components required for the hyperloop will be sourced from Maharashtra itself.

Meanwhile, Safra Catz, CEO of technology major Oracle Corp agreed to start advanced data centres in Mumbai and requested Fadnavis to help facilitate and fast-track investment in data centres, a statement from CMO said. Catz and Fadnavis met in San Francisco on Friday.

In a bid to boost the cyber policing in Maharashtra, Fadnavis also met the CEO of Symantec, Greg Clark in San Francisco and signed a MoU for cybersecurity. This will enable the government to create a mechanism for effective cyber policing, the CMO statement added.