Indian Railways Approves Third Sanction for IIT Madras Hyperloop Commercialization.

Indian Railways will provide a third grant to IIT Madras for the commercialization of Hyperloop technology and plans to implement a 40-50 km Hyperloop corridor in India, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced. The announcement was made via a virtual address at the conclusion of Asia’s first Global Hyperloop Competition, organized by IIT Madras at its Discovery Campus in Thayur.

According to an official release, the decision strengthens India's position as a leader in next-generation mobility and provides momentum for large-scale Hyperloop deployment.

IIT Madras, in collaboration with Indian Railways, has been actively working on Hyperloop development with TuTr Hyperloop, a deep-tech startup incubated at the institute. The two entities are also set to announce new projects at the Kolkata Metro and Nilgiri Mountains within the next two months, reinforcing the government's commitment to pioneering mobility solutions under Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The four-day Hyperloop competition featured a two-day conference with 60 industry leaders, including experts from the UK, Turkey, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and the USA, who discussed technology collaborations and industry synergies to accelerate Hyperloop development.

The student competition saw participation from nine teams across three categories—Demonstration, DesignX, and Innoquest—with over 180 students presenting designs, simulations, and prototypes. The Demonstration Category saw LoopMIT from Manipal Institute of Technology emerge as the overall winner, while Team Nirmaan from Thakur College of Engineering and Technology, Mumbai, received a special mention award.

The event has further strengthened industry-academia collaborations, setting the stage for large-scale pilot projects and real-world Hyperloop deployment in India.

HBL