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500-meter-long hyperloop test facility to come up in India, IIT-Madras students’ team secures funding

Chennai Written By: Sidharth MPUpdated: May 11, 2022, 07:56 PM IST
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IIT-Madras claims that the hyperloop model proposed by Team Avishkar can achieve a top speed of over 1,200 kilometres per hour

Avishkar Hyperloop, a student-led team from India, has secured funding and technical support from a private company to take forth their 'Hyperloop Pod' developmental efforts.

Based at IIT-Madras in Chennai, the team comprises 70 members who belong to as many as 11 diverse Engineering disciplines.

Hyperloop is a futuristic mode of transport that aims to facilitate extremely rapid travel by using specially designed capsules (vehicles or pods) that travel in a vacuum tube, running the entire length between two distant locations. The proposed speed of this hyperloop technology is expected to be well over 1,100Kmph.

IIT-Madras has claimed that the hyperloop model proposed by Team Avishkar can achieve a top speed of over 1,200 kilometres per hour. The institute added that the team is spearheading Hyperloop Tube research in India and has already patented a novel and cost-effective tube design.

The team is also constructing a 500-meter-long hyperloop test facility, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2022 at the Institute's Discovery campus on the outskirts of Chennai. 

“The vacuum tube, when developed, will be the first of its kind in academia anywhere globally and would be on par with the test facility of the commercial entity, Virgin Hyperloop One in the US. As such, ours would be the only one of its kind available in public, which we intend to utilise to organise international hyperloop competitions" said Prof. V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras. 

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) will be offering technical guidance across multiple facets of engineering to the students involved in the project. 

Besides taking part in international events and competitions that deal with the research and development of hyperloop pods, the team from IIT-M is also working on incorporating further technological advancements into their existing hyperloop pod prototype.