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Updated December 11th, 2019 at 13:28 IST

BIG: Richard Branson to meet Maharashtra CM Thackeray over Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop project

Richard Branson said he will meet Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to gauge the new administrations' interest in the USD 10 billion Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop project

Richard Branson
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British billionaire Richard Branson on Wednesday said he will meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to clear "misunderstandings" and gauge the new administrations' interest in the USD 10 billion Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop project. Branson also made it clear that the entire cost of the project will be borne by the private sector and it will not depend on any funding from the state.

'It is important to have a courtesy call'

"It is just a courtesy call (with Thackeray) and also to ensure that any misunderstandings regarding the project are cleared," Branson told reporters in Mumbai. "When there is a change in administration and you have a big project going on, it is important to have a courtesy call. Uddhav Thackeray and the various coalition people that he has around them need to meet people who are doing big projects or those wanting to do big projects in their state," he said. "We just need to see whether the new government is so keen as the old government (on the project)," he added.

Branson said engineers at the group's hyperloop facility in Las Vegas are working on the project and they are ready to "get going quite soon" with the Mumbai-Pune project. Hyperloop is the name given to technology originally conceived by Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk, wherein vacuum is used to transport people very fast. The technology is yet to be commercially launched and multiple companies are working on it.

READ | Several cities of Punjab to be connected with Virgin Hyperloop One

READ | Hyperloop project can push Maharashtra's GDP by 2.6% and generate jobs

Branson not interested in buying Air India

Branson's Virgin Hyperloop One had stunned all by announcing the project when Devendra Fadnavis was the state's Chief Minister and had promised to get the project going by 2020. The Fadnavis government had accorded infrastructure status to the Mumbai-Pune hyperloop project that seeks to reduce the travel time between the two cities to just 23 minutes. Branson also said he is not interested in buying Air India. He expressed sadness over the shutting down of Jet Airways and said the airline industry isn't an easy sector to be in.

READ | Richard Branson on Brexit: 'saddest event for UK since World War II'

READ | Pune to Mumbai in under 30 minutes with Virgin Hyperloop One, work on first phase likely to begin by December 2019

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Published December 11th, 2019 at 13:14 IST

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