India's first Hyperloop in Andhra Pradesh to connect Amravati and Vijaywada

AMARAVATI:
An hour-long journey between Vijayawada and Amaravati, could well become a Five minute affair thanks to the agreement signed by Andhra Pradesh government with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT). Under the agreement, HTT will develop a Hyperloop transportation route between the cities of Amaravati and Vijaywada, reducing the one-hour trip to as little as just Five minutes, if successful. The agreement will employ a public private partnership model funded primarily from private sources to fund its construction.

The Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (AP-EDB) and the US-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Amaravati. The MoU was signed by HTT chairman and co-founder Bibop Gresta and AP-EDB CEO J Krishna Kishore. While an official release on the MoU did not disclose the probable cost of the project, Krishna Kishore told ET that the project will involve little over $200 Mn of investment and take a year or so to complete it once all the approvals and Right of Way were in place.

If all goes well, this could be the first Hyperloop project to be implemented in India. HTT says it expects to generate 2,500 jobs during the project. The two-phase plan includes first conducting a feasibility study beginning in October, which is expected to last around six months. In phase 2, the actual construction of the Hyperloop  will begin.