Indian Railways and IIT Madras have teamed up to develop a made in India hyperloop system. A centre of excellence for hyperloop technologies will also be setup at the IIT. The hyperloop can move both passengers and cargo at aeroplane like speed. The Railway Ministry has picked up this technology because it has low energy requirement, hence can largely make India carbon neutral quickly. Therefore, the Railway Ministry has been looking for technology and industry partners as well as domain experts for collaborating to develop this emerging and evolving concept for passengers and cargo transportation, a PTI report said.
IIT Madras has formed a team of 70 students called Avishkar Hyperloop, has been experimenting and researching on the hyperloop technology for making it feasible for transportation.
At the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition-2019, the group had finished in the top-10 global ranking and it was the only Asian team to do so. The “Avishkar Hyperloop” student team, at the European Hyperloop Week – 2021, had also bagged the ‘Most Scalable Design Award’.
This year in March, IIT Madras offered to collaborate with the Railway Ministry on the development of a contactless pod prototype as well as the development of a first-of-its-kind Hyperloop Test Facility that will be located at its Thaiyur’s Discovery Campus. The proposed facility, once established, would unveil the largest Hyperloop Vacuum Tube in the world that forms the Test Bed for further research on Hyperloop by the national transporter.
