New Delhi: A team of students from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), has successfully developed a hyperloop prototype. Their initiative, named ‘Avishkar Hyperloop,’ has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about transportation.
The hyperloop concept gained widespread attention, thanks to Elon Musk, who played a key role in popularizing it. Musk and the SpaceX team embraced the idea of a high-speed transportation system featuring capsules supported by air bearings within a low-pressure tube environment.
The tube is typically a substantial, enclosed low-pressure structure, often taking the form of an extended tunnel. Elon Musk initially introduced the hyperloop concept in 2012, referring to it as the “fifth mode of transportation.” Within a hyperloop system, passenger pods would move through a vacuum tube at extraordinary speeds, enabling a 350 km trip to be completed in just half an hour.
India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, praised the team’s efforts on X (formerly Twitter). “Congratulations! Interesting. Wishing you all success in your future endeavours too,” she wrote.
Congratulations! Interesting. Wishing you all success in your future endeavours too. https://t.co/4vuSW8tUWt
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) September 26, 2023
The Avishkar Hyperloop prototype was brought to life by a team of 50 students, including both undergraduate and doctoral candidates at IIT-M. In the previous year, the Ministry of Railways granted Rs. 8.34 crore to the hyperloop initiative following IIT-M’s proposal to develop an indigenous hyperloop system for India.