AECOM sees Hyperloop as a competitor to air travel
AECOM India Pvt. Ltd, one of the winners of the Hyperloop One global challenge, expects the fare for a 334km Bengaluru-Chennai trip in a hyperloop high-speed transport system to be around ₹2,000.
AECOM claims it will take just 3-5 years for India to set up its first project once the technology is accepted.
Hyperloop is an experimental transportation mode that will move freight and people at a speed of around 1,000-1,200 km/ hour and involves moving magnetically levitated pod-like vehicles through a low-pressure or vacuum tube.
AECOM is one of two teams from India to win the Hyperloop One global challenge in September. The over-a-year-long challenge identified new routes to be developed, using hyperloop technology.
While AECOM India won the Bengaluru-Chennai route, Hyperloop India bagged the 1,102km Mumbai-Chennai route.
“It will reinvent the transportation business and systems worldwide,” said AECOM India senior vice-president GVR Raju, who led the five-member team to the Hyperloop One challenge final. According to Raju, a transportation system that is better then air travel at a fare of ₹2,000 is a compelling proposition.
“We have no doubt about its viability,” he said, pointing out that people pay anywhere between ₹3,500 and ₹10,000 for an air trip from Bengaluru to Chennai. It will cater more to the middle class than the masses, he added.
The company chose the route keeping in mind the industrial growth in Chennai and Bengaluru in the last two decades. A lot of industrial clusters are coming up along the Bengaluru-Chennai corridor, which will provide enough traffic for hyperloop to work.
Besides, the route doesn’t have a rough terrain, making it easy to put up the infrastructure.
On the question of costs, Raju said in the beginning one may need to pay intellectual property charges as it’s a new technology but once there is wide acceptance, it will be cheaper than a high-speed rail link.