The world’s first passenger hyperloop system

Virgin Hyperloop One DevLoop tube in Las Vegas
Image from Virgin Hyperloop
Virgin Galactic
Richard Branson's signature
Published on 1 August 2019

Imagine your journey usually takes more than three and a half hours. Then suddenly a new option arrives to cut your trip down to under 35 minutes. That’s how dramatically Virgin Hyperloop could change transportation.

Team photo of Virgin Hyperloop outside of their office
Virgin Hyperloop

That particular journey time is from central Pune to Mumbai in India, where the Government of Maharashtra has deemed hyperloop a public infrastructure project, setting it up to be the first hyperloop project in the world.

The DP World – Virgin Hyperloop One consortium was also named as the Original Project Proponent for the Mumbai-Pune hyperloop project and preparing to start the public procurement process. This landmark announcement for building the Pune-Mumbai hyperloop transportation system recognises hyperloop technology alongside other more traditional forms of mass transit.

Virgin Hyperloop one cylinder tube track going through an empty field
Image from Virgin Hyperloop

It will generate hundreds of thousands of new high tech jobs, create over $36 billion USD in wider socio-economic benefits, and create new hyperloop component and manufacturing opportunities for Maharashtra to export to India and the rest of the world. Around 75 million passengers travel between Pune to Mumbai every year, projected to rise to 130 million by 2026. What an exciting opportunity.

The Virgin Hyperloop team are making great strides in their efforts to revolutionise transportation. As well as being the only hyperloop company to successfully test its technology at scale, they are working on projects in the Middle East and the US.

Richard Branson standing in Hyperloop One
Image from Virgin Hyperloop

Speaking of which, the team is taking its XP-1 hyperloop pod on the road to start a conversation about the power of this new form of mass transformation. If you’re in the US, go see it for yourself.

I got the chance to visit the Virgin Hyperloop team recently, and it was so thrilling to see the progress CEO Jay Walder, founder Josh Giegel and all the team are making. Head over to Virgin Hyperloop to find out more.