Hyperloop Selects Chennai To Bengaluru Route For India Debut; Travel Time 30 Minutes

Hyperloop One is levitation-based technology which allows you travel from one city to another in the blink of an eye. The firm has shortlisted the routes it is interested in, Chennai-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram-Bengaluru. According to HTT, the travel time from Chennai to Bengaluru is 30 minutes.

The idea is conceived by Elon Musk and realised as a company by Shervin Pishevar in 2014. Hyperloop One is a proposed mode of transport which can propel people in travel pods or trains at 1,200km/h through a tube propped up on concrete pillars.

From 500 entries from more than 80 countries, 35 were shortlisted by the startup marque. Apart from the Indian routes, other Asian corridors are Shanghai-Hangzhou, Port Connector and Seoul-Busan.

The rest of routes include eleven from North America, eight from Europe and one from Africa, South America, Australia and the Middle East each. HTT will announce the final list in May 2017.

According to a senior railway official, "Any plan which aims at high-speed connectivity is good. But they may take more than a decade to take off because of different reasons. There will be procedural delays and time taken for approvals from the government."

HTT will begin its high-speed transportation project first in Dubai. The line will connect Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the passengers will be able to travel this 102-mile (164km) distance in 12 minutes.