Branson to meet Uddhav seeking support for hyperloop project

With a slew of mega projects being re-viewed by the new Maharashtra government, billionaire businessman Richard Branson on Wednesday urged the new administration to "embrace" the USD 10-billion Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop project. The British entrepreneur said he will be meeting chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday to clear any "misunderstandings" and also gauge his administration's interest to take the project forward. He had already paid a curtsey visit to the chief minister Wednesday.

Branson said Virgin Hyperloop One, which he heads, had many alternatives within India, including in New Delhi, to put up the fast-track network, but chose the Mumbai-Pune line and underlined that carrying this project forward will be its "first choice". Under Thackeray's predecessor Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra had signed a pact with Virgin Hyperloop for connecting two of the state's busiest commercial hubs, and had named DP World-Virgin Hyperloop One consortium as the original project proponent.

Hyperloop, which involves laying a specialised tube to create vacuum and carry passengers in a capsule inside it at very high speed, has not been commercialised anywhere else in the world yet. Inventor Elon Musk had first floated the idea and sought private companies' help to develop it. Branson said the Mumbai-Pune project does not involve any funding from the state and the entire money will be poured in by private investors.

"It is just a courtesy call (with Thackeray) and also to ensure that any misunderstandings regarding the project are cleared," Branson told reporters here. "When there is a change in administration and you've a big project going on, it is important to have a courtesy call.

Thackeray and the various coalition people that he has around them need to meet people who are doing big projects or those wanting to do big projects in their state," he said. "We just need to see whether the new government is as keen as the old government on the project," he added.

Branson said engineers at the group's hyperloop facility in Las Vegas in the US are working on the project and they are ready to "get going quite soon" with the project. Branson's Virgin HyperloopOne had stunned everyone when it announced its maiden project in the state when Fadnavis was the chief minister and had promised to get the project going by 2020.

Fadnavis had accorded infrastructure status to the Mumbai-Pune hyperloop project that seeks to reduce the travel time between the two cities to just 23 minutes as against the over three hours taken now through rail or road. Branson also said he is not interested in buying Air India and said he was saddened by the shuttering of Jet Airways..

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