Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inspects hyperloop pod development in Chennai

A Hyperloop pod is a pressurised vehicle designed to travel at high speeds within a low-pressure tube, utilising magnetic levitation and propulsion to minimise friction and air resistance.

IIT Madras has successfully developed a prototype Hyperloop pod that would take less than 30 minutes to travel from Chennai to Bengaluru, according to the publicly available information. The Hyperloop project at IIT Madras is a high-speed transportation system that uses a vacuum tube to move pods at speeds of over 1,000 km/h. The project is supported by the Ministry of Railways.

Talking to ANI during the inspection, Union Minister Vaishnaw said, "Hyperloop is a new experiment--in this, a vacuum is created, and we run the pod not on the track but above it by magnetic levitation. It's in the experiment stage as of now, and IIT Madras is supporting us in developing it."

Earlier in the day, he inaugurated the manufacturing hub of Zetwerk Electronics.

The Minister, during the inauguration, highlighted that the Union government has been increasing the railway budget for Tamil Nadu over the last 10 years, which was very small during the UPA government.

"Today, the budget is 6000 Crore plus for Tamil Nadu, and I'm very happy to share that. Our focus is so much on making sure that the work gets done," he added.

Speaking during the inauguration, he thanked the states for the success of the electronic industry, adding that it has become the second largest export item in the country.

Minister said, "You will be very happy to know that Electronics has become the second largest export item in the country, overtaking many conventional industries that had developed exports over decades. And just see, within one decade, electronics has become the second largest and this was possible primarily because of very clear thinking and focused execution."

The Union Minister attributed this achievement to the cooperation from state governments.