Amazing! Pune to Mumbai in less than 30 minutes? Here is what Virgin Hyperloop One claims

There is hardly any doubt about the fact that hyperloop is probably the next big thing in transportation space. But, what if we told you that it can reduce travel time between Mumbai and Pune to under 30 minutes? Sounds unbelievable, right? Well, this is exactly what Virgin Hyperloop One claims. The American transport technology company is expected to start the work on this project by December 2019 and recently created a lot of buzz about it, through a tweet. "Pune to Mumbai in under 30 minutes. Are you ready?" the tweet by Virgin Hyperloop One read. 

An agreement to build a hyperloop route between Mumbai and Pune was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Virgin Chairman Sir Richard Branson. The full project is proposing to link Central Pune, the Navi Mumbai International Airport and Central Mumbai – with a potential commute time of 25 minutes.

The distance between Mumbai and Pune is about 150 kilometres and takes around 3 hours to complete the journey. The proposed plan will benefit more than 25 million travellers across both cities.

According to the official website of Virgin Hyperloop One, the first phase will cover 15 kilometres demonstration track and the full project will be completed by 2023. The website says that India has multiple factors that make it an ideal country for a hyperloop system. "Infrastructure needs due to rising demand, superior engineering talent, low-cost manufacturing base, and strong political support and favourable regulatory environment. These factors ensure that the hyperloop, when built and tested commercially, will be affordable (for riders), scalable and low-cost (to build and operate)," it adds.

The company plans to take the technology to other routes as well. It believes that there are five viable routes between different Indian cities with estimated 55-minute commute for a Delhi-Jaipur-Indore-Mumbai system, 50-minute for a Mumbai-Bangalore-Chennai commute, 41-minute for a Bangalore-Thiruvananthapuram commute and 20-minute for a Bangalore-Chennai commute on the hyperloop system.