Mumbai to Pune in 35 minutes via SpaceX Hyperloop?

India is considering the ultimate high-speed transport option – the Hyperloop – as an ultra-fast way of connecting Mumbai and Pune. It has offered Elon Musk's US-based SpaceX a big piece of land and permission to do the required testing of his audacious Hyperloop project in Pune city, which is 118 kilometres away from Mumbai.

The Hyperloop is an above-ground tube in which capsules, as large as passenger coaches, are propelled by linear induction motors and compressors. The capsules can travel at supersonic speed with very thin air inside the tube.

India's minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, who had recently spent time in the US, was impressed with the tube-style transport system and made the proposal to Tesla Group's Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX).

 ''Tesla had come to me stating that they have a new system with a speed of 1,120 km per hour. It travels at such a high speed because it takes air from the tube. It has more speed than an aircraft and with that speed, the distance between Nagpur and Mumbai can be covered in 35 minutes,'' Gadkari said.

''They wanted a road and I have offered them the Pune bypass that connects to the Express highway. The idea is they can take an experiment between Mumbai and Pune as a pilot project. It is up to [SpaceX] to decide whether or not to accept my offer,'' he said.

 ''The idea is, if the Mumbai to Pune pilot project can be successful, it will be implemented,'' he added.

The Hyperloop concept sees capsules of passengers and cargo shot down a tube at speeds of approximately 1,300kph – faster than an aircraft. If Hyperloop manages to materialise its commercial plans – and bring it to India - it would allow passengers to cover the Mumbai-Pune journey in a matter of minutes.

The chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, also confirmed that there indeed have been some discussions between the governments on such a proposal but was quick to add that it has asked SpaceX to develop the product first before making test-runs in the state.

Gadkari said Tesla's technology will be useful to address issues of traffic congestion and pollution. ''I strongly feel that mass rapid transport on run on electricity is our future. Therefore, first priority is to waterways, second to railways and third to roads,'' he said.

The Hyperloop is still at a development stage and has not been commercially deployed anywhere in the world. Among other things, SpaceX is also working on commercialising space travel.