There's already a proposed bullet train that will travel between Mumbai and Ahmedabad that will cover the distance in a matter of two hours. The train will travel at a speed of 320-350 km per hour and will be the fastest train in the Indian subcontinent.
Having said that, what if we told you that there is a faster way to travel and a bunch of Indian engineers are already working on a Hyperloop-type pod that will travel at a speed of 1,200 km/hour? What if we told you that these pods can cover the same distance in less than 45 minutes?
A group of engineering students from BITS Pilani are working on a concept that that has taken inspiration from Elon Musk's “Hyperloop” project and are building a pod that can travel in a vacuum and achieve the speed of 1,200 km/hour.
Musk's “Hyperloop India” is already working on such a pod and is in the final stage of building the vacuum capsule that will be tested in late August this year at the headquarters in California.
“Hyperloop is tube travel wherein you have a vehicle that is magnetically levitated and propelled inside a vacuum tube. The technology that is used for the propulsion and braking systems can vary,” Prithvi Shankar, a BE final year student at BITS Pilani and a member of what is being called Team Hyperloop, told IANS.
The engineers elaborate that Musk's Hyperlook programme is using a “scalability first” approach and appears to be feasible. They believe that if this approach is adopted, it will only cost 60% of the total of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train.
"If Hyperloop were to replace the high-speed rail that is currently being proposed... the entire infrastructure cost will be 40 per cent less, plus the maintenance costs will be much less. It will also require very little land acquisition," Prithvi said.
Both, the bullet train and Hyperloop is magnetically levitated, however, the Hyperloop is far superior to the Maglev in terms of speed and efficiency. Since the Hyperloop pod runs in a vacuum, it does not face any air resistance, and will also utilise a propulsion method that is different from the Maglev. The Hyperloop will use passive permanent magnets whereas the bullet trains require a constant electricity supply.
The team at BITS Pilani was formed in 2015 in response to the SpaceX design contest for which the team had built a 1.6 km track on its premises. The team has collaborated with IIM, IIR and the Indian School of Business on the feasibility of the project. The ongoing project is being supported by the likes of Invest India, NITI Aayog, RITES and Indian Railways.
Source: Hindustan Times