CHENNAI: Steel giant ArcelorMittal has partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras to build “Asia’s first” Hyperloop test track facility here, the company said here on Wednesday.

The companies, ArcelorMittal and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS), are providing foundational steel materials as well as engineering, design, and project management expertise to support the construction of Asia’s first Hyperloop test track at the 163-acre Discovery campus of IIT Madras, located at Thaiyur on the outskirts of Chennai, a release here said.

ArcelorMittal is collaborating with the IIT Madras’s Hyperloop Technology teams - Avishkar Hyperloop, a student team, and TuTr Hyperloop, a startup incubated in IIT Madras, for the project. The Ministry of Railways is also a key partner.

ArcelorMittal and AM/NS will supply 400 tonnes of steel for the fabrication of a 400-metre vacuum tube at the site, while engineers from AMDEC, the design and engineering arm of ArcelorMittal, will help oversee the project.

The test facility is expected to be operational by the end of Q1, 2024.

The team’s central objective is the advancement and commercialisation of Hyperloop technologies for high-speed, affordable, reliable, and sustainable transportation, the release said.

“This is a hugely exciting project to be part of. IIT Madras is at the vanguard of deep-tech development in India, and TuTr Hyperloop’s technology and tenacity inspire great confidence about their potential to be pioneers in Hyperloop, a mobility transition industry in which steel would have an important role to play,” ArcelorMittal Chief Technology Officer Pinakin Chaubal said.

“We are extremely delighted with ArcelorMittal’s partnership for this deep-tech initiative which will significantly accelerate our efforts to commercialise Hyperloop technology,” said Aravind S Bharadwaj, Mentor of the Hyperloop Technology Development Team at IIT Madras, said.