Hyperloop to link two cities in India with pods traveling at nearly the speed of sound

Conceptual picture of a hyperloop tube carrying pods. Photo Credit: Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.

The southern state of Andhra Pradesh will have India’s first hyperloop levitating pods whizzing between Amaravati and Vijayawada.

Tesla boss Elon Musk created a buzz when he tweeted in July that he had “verbal government approval” for levitating pods in a tunnel to whizz between New York and Washington DC in 29 minutes. Now, on the other side of the world in India, the state government of Andhra Pradesh has okayed a hyperloop project to commute 48 km between the cities of Amaravati and Vijayawada on the southern coast in five minutes.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, a US company using crowd collaboration to build the futuristic transportation inspired by Musk’s concept, yesterday announced a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government to build a hyperloop. This marks the first deal in India for the firm. Its other Asian forays include co-developing a HyperTube Express in South Korea, and a feasibility study to connect Java and Sumatra in Indonesia.

Andhra Pradesh was split into two in 2014, with the new state of Telangana being carved out of it. The capital city of Hyderabad will belong to Telangana after a transition period. Amaravati is a new greenfield capital city being built up in Andhra Pradesh, whose chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is keen to replicate the tech initiatives he had earlier taken in Hyderabad.

Conceptual photo showing a pod inside a hyperloop tube. Photo credit: Hyperloop Transportation Technologies

Hyperloop uses a crowdsourced approach in which 800 engineers and scientists from 38 countries are collaborating. Pods carrying people inside tubes use magnetic levitation to travel at the speed of an aircraft – that is, at nearly the speed of sound. Reduction of air in the tube produces almost zero friction.

Last week, China revealed it is building “supersonic flying trains” that will reach a top speed of 4,000 km and cover longer distances than the hyperloop. The Chinese too are using pods in tubes, but claim to have over 200 patents for new technology to outdo the hyperloop.