Richard Branson, head of The Virgin Group, announced the company plans to open a hyperloop in India. It will serve 26 million people and carry as many as 150 million passengers a year.
Hyperloops act as the equivalents of superfast trains and car reach over 300 MPH. The run on tracks, many of which parallel existing train track routes. Elon Musk of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has proposed a system which would run from Los Angeles to San Francisco. There are no existing commercial hyperloops in the world
Branson wrote:
Delighted to be here in India with the Virgin Hyperloop One team to share some very exciting news for the future of transportation in the country. The Indian State of Maharashtra has announced their intent to build a Virgin Hyperloop between Pune and Mumbai, beginning with an operational demonstration track.
It was an honour to have Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, alongside us as we signed a Framework Agreement for the project. The hyperloop route would link central Pune, Navi Mumbai International Airport, and Mumbai in 25-minutes and connect 26 million people. Supporting 150 million passenger trips per year, it would help create a thriving, competitive megaregion.
As Virgin Hyperloop One Chairman, I’m incredibly excited about the potential to truly transform not just transportation, but wider society. Virgin Hyperloop One can help India become a global transportation pioneer and forge a new world-changing industry. As our team’s studies have found, the Pune-Mumbai route could result in USD $55 billion (INR ₹350,000 crores) in socio-economic benefits, time savings, accident reduction and operational cost savings, over 30 years of operation.
Branson has not demonstrated that he has either the technology or funds to make the project successful and no data to support his economic suppositions. Otherwise, it is a fine idea.
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