At their showcase event in New Delhi, Hyperloop One took to the center stage to make one thing extremely clear and crisp. The team is willing to lead the transformation in the transportation industry of the country and seeks helps with the same. It is currently said to be in initial talks with the government, industry officials and partners to make at least a couple of the five routes showcased today the reality.
Starting off, Hyperloop One shed light on their current progress before moving on to talk about the prospects for the Indian market. It said that their dedicated team has grown from a measly thirty-seven to now accommodate 225+ full-time employees. They’re carrying out work on the initial prototype to perform their first test run on half a kilometer long track in the deserts of Nevada. This is planned to take place this summer (before the end of September’17).
The showcase event was graced by the presence of an esteemed panel of guests including Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Indian Railways and Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog. And the primary point of focus for the government was that hyperloop would further better their pace of urbanisation, leading to improvements and job creation in new cities. They were of the opinion that India is in need of very sustainable and transformational form of technology, and hyperloop definitely presents a strong case.
Speaking about the advent of hyperloop tech in India, Amitabh Kant said,
What the hyperloop presents is a transformative technology that will lead the process of growth, connectivity and urbanisation. We’d be every happy to facilitate, act as a catalyst, and work in partnership with you. Your future doesn’t belong to places like US, UK, but places where such transformative Technologies are required.
Further, Suresh Prabhu also commented on Hyperloop One’s efforts saying,
You all live in exciting times. Tideas travel faster than the ideas in mind. We’re keenly watching the developments taking place and we’d like to congratulate Hyperloop One for this. All this is very exciting.
There’s no doubting the fact that India is the second-most populous or crowded) country in the world. Thus, we have to suffer at the hands of the lack of infrastructure and opportunities, thus, leading to a reduced rate of urbanisation. We’re steadily making progress on each and every front, even transportation. But, Hyperloop could be a boon for the countrymen, reducing the travel time between two destination points by a significant amount (Chennai to Mumbai might soon take you just 60 minutes).
Thus, Rob Llyod, Global CEO and Board member of Hyperloop One said, is of the opinion that India presents a strong opportunity for them to set up their transformative technology. They’re willing to help India leapfrog on the transformative transportation front but is asking for support from the government agencies and industry officials. He even went on to add that if the government supports their ambitious vision, they’re willing to bring their research and technology to India through engineering hubs.
With regards to the same, Lloyd further commented,
The real hyperloop company is now in India. We’ll like to make this work in collaboration with the government, industries and other partners.
We’ve already seen India drive and thrive the IT industry and we’ll now like to see India drive and thrive the transportation industry as well.
Hyperloop One, for those unaware, is currently working on a futuristic concept of passenger and freight transportation using pod-like vehicles that propel through near vacuum tubes at speeds even more than airlines (~800 miles per hour). It uses magnetic levitation to drive the pod forward and backward — in separate pods either underground or above. The company is also taking measure to ensure a safe and comforting ride experience for passengers. They’re aren’t willing to risk those who’ll be traveling within these pods.
As for the concept of hyperloop, it was brought to the frontlines by none-other-than legendary innovator Elon Musk, who published a rough version of the proposal describing the technology on SpaceX’s website. It included pods that could gradually accelerate to speeds of up to 760 miles per hour (approx 1220 km per hour) during the journey.
