AECOM sees Hyperloop as a competitor to air travel
AECOM India, one of the finalists for Hyperloop One global challenge, whose concept was proposed by Elon Musk, expects the fare for the 334 km Bengaluru-Chennai trip in a hyperloop high-speed transport system to be around ₹2,000.
AECOM also 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 by moving a vehicle through a low-pressure or vaccum tube.
“It will re-invent transportation business and systems worldwide,” said AECOM India senior vice-president GVR Raju, who also headed the five-member team which made it to the Hyperloop One challenge final.
According to Raju, a faster transportation system better then air travel at ₹2,000 would be a compelling proposition. “We have no doubt about its viability,” he said, adding that people pay around ₹3,500 to ₹10,000 for a trip from Bengaluru to Chennai
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now. It would 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 would provide enough traffic for Hyperloop to work. Besides, the route doesn’t have a rough terrain, making it easy to build infrastructure.
On the question of costs, Raju says in beginning, one may need to pay Intellectual Property (IP) charges as it’s a new technology but once there is wide acceptance it would be cheaper than high-speed rail. The company is already in talks with investors including some automobile companies manufacturing electricvehicles in India for a potential partnership. “At the moment, the investors are watching for the first project to come up,” he added.
AECOM India has discussed the project with the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and the feedback was enthusiastic, Raju said.