Hyperloop TT Chairman says his aim is to make super-speed travel 'safer than walking'

Recently, Hyperloop was the talk of the town as the government plans to set up India’s first bullet train. Some experts suggested India should skip focusing on incremental improvement of railways and leapfrog past to embrace the idea of Hyperloop.

In an email conversation with Moneycontrol, Bibop Gresta, Chairman and COO of HTT listed his views on the importance of this technology, concerns around it and the disruption potential it holds by bringing the world closer.

Q: How important is Hyperloop as a technology and what sort of disruption it can bring to the world as we know it?

A: At Hyperloop TT, we are arduously working towards creating a fifth mode of transport - after planes, trains, cars and boats. Transportation of every kind has had its uniqueness and has never failed to impress humanity. But, sadly, none works on technologies that are latest and innovation based. Every mode, be it high-speed rail or the metro systems, require huge capital investments and constant subsidy from the government for smooth operations.

While, Hyperloop is cost effective, energy efficient, extremely convenient, time saver, immune to weather changes, sustainably self-powering and resistant to earthquakes.

Hyperloop will use a combination of renewable energy to generate more electricity than it consumes. This means, a cheaper cost of construction and maintenance, a cheaper price of ticket for the passengers and no need for subsidies to be profitable. Further, it does not pollute the planet unlike conventional transportation.

The speed of the system really opens up possibilities for bringing cities and nations together like never before, but this is not the main benefit. It’s the global efficiency of the system that is revolutionary.

Hyperloop will be the landmark change in times to come and prove to the world that systems can be improved to be more efficient, enjoyable and, perhaps most importantly, profitable.

Q: Hyperloop sounds like something out of science fiction, when did you first decide to make it into a reality?

 A: I got together with Dirk Ahlborn, Founder and CEO of JumpStarter Inc. in 2014 to work on this visionary idea of Hyperloop. Jumpstart Inc. or JumpStartFund is a unique crowdfunding and crowdsourcing incubator platform that uses collective knowledge and assets to make ideas like Hyperloop a reality.

I had just moved to LA and had started attending tech meet ups in the area when I met Dirk. He approached me and told me that he’s been working on Hyperloop with a team of 100 scientists at that time. I found it strange because Elon Musk’s white paper had been released only a few months ago and here Dirk was claiming to be working with 100 scientists already.

Further, Dirk explained to me that he had crowd sourced the Hyperloop project and, in a very short span of time scientists from different geographies and companies, including NASA and Livermore Labs had joined in. I was still not convinced. He then gave me the detailed report of Hyperloop and after reading through it and mulling over it for a month, is when I decided to join this revolutionary project and since then, there has been no looking back.

Today, I’m only working towards making Hyperloop a reality.

Q: Travelling at the speed of sound, a small error could lead to a fatal disaster, what are the contingency measures you have deployed to counter such accidents?

 A: The entire tube system is built on pylons, lowering the cost of land acquisition, making it impervious to weather conditions, earthquakes, and crashes. Hyperloop is self-sustaining, due to its use of passive magnetic levitation, regenerative braking, solar power, and other renewable energy resources. Simplified and efficient design combined with self-sustaining energy. Having said this, in case of an emergency the capsule can be stopped very quickly, the tube can be sealed and passengers can be evacuated through the pylons.

We also have developed a system that can re-inject air in less than 10 seconds (that will balance the air pressure, thus avoiding accidents).

At Hyperloop, we are obsessed with safety. Also, I should mention that none of these features are available even on airplanes.

Q: By when and where can we see the first test run?

 A: We very recently made a global announcement about HTT starting construction of the world’s first full-scale Passenger Hyperloop Capsule. This first capsule is the culmination of over three years and thousands of hours of design, research, and analysis. Construction is underway for delivery and should happen by early 2018 at HTT’s R&D center in Toulouse, France for integration and optimization.

Currently, the Abu Dhabi government has given a go-ahead to build the Hyperloop connecting Abu Dhabi with Al Ain. We are on with the feasibility study there. The four other governments that are in the same position are — California, Slovakia, Czech Republic and France. These are the places where we have signed deals and are in advanced talks.

Toulouse in France, in particular, is interesting because they have not only got land, but also an entire building for a research and innovation centre.

 Q: What is the likelihood of the test run to fail and if such a thing happens then what would be the next plan of action?

A: Our aim is to build Hyperloop to be safer than walking.  It’s possible because you’re in a fully automated system in an enclosed environment.  Most accidents today are due to human failure or some kind of outside interference with the track.  We have teams of world-class experts engineering with safety as our primary concern.

Q: In what range do you estimate the fare cost, let's say between Delhi and Mumbai to be post production?

 A: To be precise on this requires a feasibility study for the Indian market, but, generically we can talk about 20-40 million USD per KM. This means that in some case we can be half or 4 times less expensive than high-speed rail and one fifth of the cost to maintain it.

Q: What will power the machine and how environment-friendly will it be?

 A: The HTT system consists of a capsule for passengers or cargo levitating inside a low air pressure tube, with a passive levitation system - exclusively licensed from Lawrence Livermore Labs.

For propulsion, magnetic accelerators will be planted along the length of the tube, propelling the pods forward.  The tubes would house a low-pressure environment, surrounding the pod with a cushion of air that permits the pod to move safely at such high speeds – almost the speed of sound suing prima fraction of energy. With this environment, the capsule, along with moving at such speeds, will require very little energy making the system highly efficient.

The system will use a combination of renewable energy to generate more electricity than it consumes.

 Q: How has the response been from the Indian government towards your proposals? By when can we a running Hyperloop in India?

 A: We have received overwhelming response from the Indian government, media and people. We even met with PM Narendra Modi in San Francisco recently and have had a meeting with Union Transports Minister Mr. Nitin Gadkari, as well as several Chief Ministers.

Everyone is excited about this revolutionary new technology that can bring tremendous value to India. We have several proposals on the table that are waiting to be approved, and I am confident that we will be able to announce something very soon.

We are looking forward to work on a PPP (public-private partnership) model that will allow us to bring foreign investor together with local partners.

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