Three times faster than flights: Hyperloop can do Delhi-Mumbai in 70 mins

Travel from Delhi to Mumbai can become less than a third —to 70 minutes — of what it takes in a flight, at costs cheaper than flight tickets.

The mode of transport is called a Hyperloop, a concept that was drawn maverick Tesla CEO and chief architect, Elon Musk on a white paper in 2013.

Hyperloop One is the only company that has built podcars (computerised capsules containers), which is a hybrid of a spaceship and a train, which will travel in nearly vacuum tunnel at over 1,000 kmph.

Its executives met government officials on Wednesday to discuss how to implement projects that will allow passengers and goods to travel between major cities, said Nick Earle, Sr. V-P of global field operations at Hyperloop One.

Distance between Mumbai and Chennai can be covered in 60 minutes and Chennai to Bangalore in 20 minutes.

But, to implement that in India will not be easy. Earle will need a bunch of safety clearances. “The regulator needs to give a safety certificate,” Earle said.

Then there are issues of laying the tunnel, which are almost five meter wide, and slightly raised from the ground, say about 20 meters. That would need would the central and state government to acquire land. Land acquisition has been a major problem in India, and has been a reason for many stalled projects.

It is also a costly affair. Earle said the company has secured $160 million, and is on its way to raise more capital. It would also need the Indian government to put in substantial amounts of money. Robert Puentes, director of Washington-based Eno Center for Transportation, told a British daily that such projects need “millions of dollars” to build engineering, the transport and infrastructure.

In the next two months Hyperloop One will do its first live demonstration in the desert of Nevada. Earle calls it’s the “kitty hawk moment”, taken from Wright Brothers’ first flight on December 17, 1903, when they flew the Flyer I four miles south of Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.

In India, like elsewhere in the world, Earle said Hyperloop One will be a public transport, much cheaper than flight tickets, and maybe just as much as a Rajhdhani ticket costs. “This is not an executive transport… It will be a public transport, which will be cheaper than air travel,” said Earle. As per estimates, travel in a Hyperloop between Stockholm and Helsinki would cost 25 Euros, while a flight can be as much at 200-250 Euros.

According to Mineta Transportation Institute, the US-based think tank that researches on intermodal surface transportation in a report said the podcar concept has been around since 1950, when public transportation enthusiast Donn Fichter first talked about it, only five such projects have been started.

Reason why these concepts haven’t taken off is high cost and limited usage. Hyperloop One wants to solve those problems. The cost of travel will be reduced as it would not require fuel or continuous supply of electricity.

HDFC Bank, ICICI and Axis charges apply on cash transactions

Banks including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank on Wednesday began charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month.

 The charges would apply to savings as well as salary accounts effective from March 1, leading private sector player HDFC Bank said in a circular.

The bank would also cap the third party cash transactions at Rs 25,000 per day, while cash handling charges would be withdrawn effective today, the circular added.

The move was seen in some quarters as aimed at discouraging cash transactions and furthering the digital payment drive.

For the basic no-frills accounts, maximum four cash withdrawals would continue to remain free and there would be no fees for cash deposits.

In case of ICICI Bank, the charges are same as they were before the demonetisation move announced on November 8, while there is an increase in such fees in case of some others.

According to details on ICICI Bank website, there will be no charge for first four transactions a month in home branch while Rs 5 per thousand rupees would be charged thereafter subject to a minimum of Rs 150 in the same month.

The third party limit would be Rs 50,000 per day.

For non-home branches, ICICI Bank would not charge anything for first cash withdrawal of a calendar month and Rs 5 per thousand rupees thereafter subject to a minimum of Rs 150.

For anywhere cash deposit, ICICI Bank would charge Rs 5 per thousand rupees (subject to a minimum of 150) at branches, while deposit at Cash Acceptance Machine would be free of charge for first cash deposit of a calendar month and Rs 5 per thousand thereafter.

ATM intercharge charges have also been re-introduced.

At Axis Bank, the first five transactions or Rs 10 lakh of cash deposits or withdrawals would be free and charged at Rs 5 per thousand rupees or Rs 150, whichever is higher.

It could not be ascertained whether the public sector banks have also begun imposing such charges.

When contacted, a senior official said there has been no directive from the government to the banks regarding levy of such charges.

The charges would apply to savings as well as salary accounts.