Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop gets state cabinet approval
31 Jul 2019
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Travel time between Mumbai and Pune, the two important cities in Maharashtra that are 200 km apart, will come down to below 25 minutes once the ultra fast Hyperloop project gets completed.
Maharashtra government has accorded infrastructure status to the Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop transport project.
With the implementation of Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop project, travel time between the two cities, located in the state of Maharashtra, will come down to just 23 minutes, says a report.
A statement from the chief minister’s office said that the state cabinet also approved the formation of a consortium of Hyperloop Technologies and DP World FZE as proponents of the original project.
The cabinet meeting was chaired by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who said the project would be carried out in two phases and completed in six-eight years.
According to the report, the Hyperloop train will run from BKC in Mumbai to Wakad in Pune, covering a total distance of 117.5 km. The statement further said that the train will run at a speed of 496 km per hour and cover the entire distance between the two cities in a duration of just 23 minutes. At present, it takes three-and-a-half to four hours to travel by train between the two cities.
“The project will complete the 117.5 km journey from Mumbai (BKC) to Pune (Wakad) in 23 minutes at a speed of 496 km per hour. The first phase of the project will be treated as a pilot project under which work on 11.80 km will be carried out. For this, Rs 5,000 crore will be spent. In the second phase, rest of the project to connect Wakad with Kurla will be carried out,” an official said on Tuesday.
The statement also mentioned that the FDI in the entire project is to the tune of Rs70,000 crore. The Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop project will take seven years for completion. In the first phase of the project, the Hyperloop train will be run on a pilot basis for a distance of 11.8 km in the Pune Metropolitan region at a cost of Rs5,000 crore, the statement added.
Besides minimising the travel time between Mumbai and Pune, the Hyperloop project is expected to ease severe expressway congestion. Also, with this project, the number of road accidents, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, are likely to get reduced.
The project, first of its kind in the world, is being carried out by the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA) and is said to have a total investment of Rs 70,000 crore.
In September 2018, the PMRDA submitted a proposal to the Maharashtra Infrastructure Development Enabling Authority, seeking to allot part of the Hyperloop project work to interested private players, using the Swiss Challenge Method.
The project will begin with a six-month feasibility study and setting up of a 10-km demonstration track, which will start from Hinjewadi. Operations on this track are expected to begin by 2021.
In February, the cabinet had cleared the Maharashtra Infrastructure Development Enabling Authority Act, which acts as a framework to allow infrastructure proposals to be allotted to private players using the Swiss Challenge Method.
