Centre of Excellence for Hyperloop Technology

Context

The Ministry of Railways has announced that it’s going to collaborate with IIT Madras for the development of a made-in-India Hyperloop system. 

Key-points

• For this project, IIT Madras will receive Rs 8.34 crore in funding from the Indian Railways.
  • Along with the financial support, the Indian Railways will also help in the manufacturing, and formulation of safety standards. 
  • Also, access to electrical testing facilities of the railways will be provided.
• IIT Madras will be responsible to deliver design documentation for pod, tube, and track for the hyperloop system. 
• The testing and performance data delivery for the pod prototype and the vacuum tube will also be done by the IIT Madras. 
• The institute will also provide training to the railway personnel regarding the working of the hyperloop system.
  

What is Hyperloop?

• Hyperloop is a new type of transport technology that uses magnetic levitation in low-pressure tubes or tunnels to transport people and goods. 
• There are two major differences between hyperloop and a standard rail. 
  • One is passengers sit in pods that travel via tubes or tunnels in which most of the air is removed to reduce friction. 
  • The second difference is that instead of using wheels, the pods will float on air skis or use magnetic levitation.
• Imagine, an aircraft like speed on land, travelling through low-pressure tunnels from one terminal to another. The pods would move via mag-lev technology that would enable the frictionless ride.

Significance of the technology

• Extremely quick
• Eco-friendly as it consumes less power than an electric train and doesn’t really have any emissions unlike an aircraft or a diesel locomotive.
• Hyperloop is faster and less expensive to construct than regular high-speed rail. 
• The energy requirement is also less.

Hyperloop in India

• IIT Madras’s Avishkar Hyperloop which was formed in 2017 had been working on scalability and frugal engineering concepts for the development of a Hyperloop based transportation system for India. 
• The group was one of the top ten finalists at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition of 2019 and was the only Asian team to do so. 
• They also were awarded the ‘Most Scalable Design Award’ at the European Hyperloop Week in