Maverick British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson on Thursday called on Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to give a push to the proposed hyperloop project between Mumbai and Pune.
The meeting between Thackeray and Virgin Group founder was held at Matoshree, the Bandra bungalow of the Thackeray family.
The meeting comes at a time when the Uddhav-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government is reviewing several projects of the erstwhile BJP-led government of which the Shiv Sena has been a partner.
"It was a courtesy call. During the meeting Branson detailed about the hyperloop project, discussed civil aviation and other businesses of his company," official sources said.
According to earlier discussions after the Make in India summit, it was revealed that the journey between Mumbai and Pune will take just 29 minutes by hyperloop.
Hyperloop will travel at a speed between 600 to 700 kmph.
The Hyperloop mode of transportation is being pioneered by Branson but has not been implemented anywhere in the world. However, Branson's concept, which aims to allow supersonic transport via a pod moving inside a vacuum tube, has drawn interest across the globe.
Branson was among the invitees at the Make in India summit in Mumbai a few years ago, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the summit, the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had met Branson and also visited the Hyperloop facility in Nevada, United States.
The state government has approved the formation of a consortium of DP World FZE and Hyperloop Technologies as "original project proponent".
The FDI project is expected to see an investment of Rs 70,000 crore.
At present, Mumbai is well connected to Pune by road and rail besides air.
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