CHENNAI (Metro Rail News): Tata Steel and TuTr Hyperloop signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) at IIT Madras on December 23, 2022, to jointly work on the development and deployment of Hyperloop technology at scale. The main research areas will focus on design and materials selection challenges.
Hyperloop is a future option for a high-speed, low-cost, sustainable transport system for passengers and cargo. The hyperloop system has critical elements such as tubes, pods, propulsion systems, and tracks. Autonomous, levitated pods travel through a network of evacuated tubes. It promises 10x more energy efficient than road transport and aviation, uses 2-3x less space than rail and road, and enables shorter travel duration than aviation.
Dr Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Technology & New Materials Business at Tata Steel, said: “We encourage and foster homegrown technologies and are committed to drive them towards commercial success. Globally, Hyperloop holds huge potential for high-speed sustainable transportation of tomorrow. We believe that this disruptive mobility technology can achieve its stated objective through concerted efforts of TuTr Hyperloop and Tata Steel, leveraging their core capabilities. Furthermore, as a materials company committed to sustainable business, we will contribute to finding solutions to critical challenges in the Hyperloop journey by leveraging our R&D capabilities and the Tata ecosystem.”
R Balaji, Co-founder & CEO TuTr Hyperloop, said: “We are delighted to be working with Tata Steel on this breakthrough project. We are currently developing and testing various options to make Hyperloop technology solution a global benchmark in terms of cost and efficiency. To meet this objective, we need to leverage the capabilities of global leaders like Tata Steel. Partnership with Tata Steel will enable us to solve materials and design related challenges and drive Hyperloop to become a reality.”
Tata Steel has core expertise in the design & development of steel and composite materials. Tata Steel has identified Hyperloop as an opportune breakthrough technology in future mobility in line with its strategic intent to develop a future-ready sustainable business. TuTr, a deep tech startup incubated out of IIT Madras, India, is a front runner in this space and is promising a low-cost hyperloop solution as its fundamental value proposition. TuTr has unique strength in pod and propulsion system design. Tata Steel and TuTr jointly aim to design, develop, and scale up the technology for commercialisation. The phase-I work will happen on the 50m test track at IIT Madras. The subsequent work to achieve a 10-km track will be completed in Phases II & III involving a consortium of other industry partners from the Automotive, Construction and Engineering sectors.
