WATCH | Indian minister shares video of 410-metre hyperloop developed at IIT Madras

India's Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday (March 17) shared a video of a 410-metre-long Hyperloop test tube located at IIT Madras which he visited this weekend.

Vaishnaw visited the Hyperloop testing facility in Chennai on Saturday (Mar 15), where he was accompanied by the faculty advisors and other researchers. He shared that the Hyperloop tube will soon become the world's longest.

The minister saw a live demo of the Hyperloop tube at the testing facility at 'IIT Madras Discovery Campus' in Chennai.

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The Hyperloop test tube is currently known as Asia's longest Hyperloop test facility.

He shared a post on Instagram, writing, "Longest Hyperloop tube in Asia (410 m)… soon to be the world’s longest. IIT Madras."

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What is Hyperloop Tube?

It is a high-speed train with the 5th mode of transportation that travels in a near-vacuum tube. The term 'Hyperloop' is simply a high-speed transportation concept for passengers developed by businessman Elon Musk in 2013.

This 'Hyperloop' system is built using capsules assisted by an air-bearing area inside a low-pressure tube. The systems consist of tubes, terminals, and pods. The tube is a long tunnel with low pressure.

Ashwini Vaishnaw's visit to IIT Madras

During his visit, Mr Vaishnaw also expressed support for the project, sharing, "We will extend whatever support is needed. I am just a message away. I am the 72nd member of the Avishkar team. Let us be very focused on the quality, safety, and how we scale up this entire experiment once we do prototypes. Keep that ultimate goal in mind.”

Appreciating the IIT Madras campus, students' teamwork, and indigenous technology, the minister said, "This place is so full of so much energy that I cannot describe it. I'm so happy to see young, energetic engineers working on this new technology and doing new experiments. We are providing only small help. I think that this will really lead us to some good solutions for the country, for our people, for our start-ups, and the world of technology as well."

According to a release from the Indian government, the Ministry of Railways allocated a good budget of 963,024 US dollars (8.34 crore rupees) in May 2022 for building a high-tech indigenous hyperloop transportation system and its subsystem. This success highlights India’s uplifting contribution to the hyperloop field.