US-based firm to carry pre-feasibility study of Pune-Mumbai hyperloop corridor

Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) in collaboration with Virgin Hyperloop One firm conducted a workshop to discuss the potential routes and ridership demand on a prospective Pune-Mumbai hyperloop route.

The travel time between the two metro cities would be achieved in 14 minutes as per the hyperloop technology.

Metropolitan commissioner Kiran Gitte said, “The USA-based company has decided to prepare a pre-feasibility report for the corridor in the next six weeks and would submit it to the state government.”

The transport medium will allow 5,000 commuters to travel per hour at one direction and the speed of the vacuum tube is 1,000 km per hour.

Gitte said that another potential route is JNPT port to Chakan as 60 percentage trucks are coming to Chakan from this port. The company will also study this corridor.

Hyperloop technology involves boarding passengers or cargo onto a pod-like vehicle which is pushed through near-vacuum filled tubes at around 1,000 km an hour. If the study yields positive results, the fast commute may become a reality.

“A hyperloop route requires high-density traffic to become viable as means of rapid public transit. Mumbai and Pune, the populous cities in India, have the potential to provide an optimal route with a high density,” chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had stated recently.

“By reducing travel time to less than 20 minutes, a hyperloop route will help intensify the connectivity between the metropolitan regions of Pune and Mumbai, transforming the two cities into India’s first and largest Megapolis,” the CM said while signing the MOU with the company.

In September 2016, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari allowed the company to conduct pilot test of the futuristic high-speed transportation system along the westerly bypass of Pune connected to the Express Highway.

BOX

Pune-Mumbai-Pune travelling pattern

Daily 1.10 lakh vehicles travelling between Mumbai and Pune

Daily 3 lakh commuters are travelling among both the cities

Among 1.10 lakh vehicles, 80,000 are cars

6,000 buses travelling in both the cities

JNPT to Chakan – 60 percentage fright service

As per the hyperloop technology, distance between Pune and Mumbai would be covered in 14 minutes

Per hour 5,000 commuters can travel at one direction