IIT Madras Students Put India on World Map with Victory in European Hyperloop Week 2025
IIT Madras’ Avishkar Hyperloop team has once again brought glory to India by securing top honours at the European Hyperloop Week 2025 held in Veendam, Netherlands. The student-led team stood out with a first place finish in socio economic research and second place in technical research, earning them the number one ranking in Asia and fourth globally.
The highlight of their presentation was Pod 8.0, their most advanced prototype yet. This latest pod is powered by a dual propulsion system that combines LSM for thrust and LIM for efficient cruising. It also comes with custom motor controllers, a modular chassis, advanced suspension systems, shockwave mitigation technology and a passenger mock cabin that demonstrates what a future travel experience could look like. The pod is supported by fail safe battery stacks with active cooling, ensuring safety and reliability alongside innovation.
The team behind Avishkar Hyperloop is made up of more than 70 students from different engineering disciplines. They test their designs on Asia’s largest Hyperloop test track built near Chennai in collaboration with IRCTC and TuTr Hyperloop. This infrastructure gives them the edge to validate and refine their concepts on the ground rather than limiting their work to theoretical design.
This victory continues a proud legacy. Avishkar was the only Asian team to reach the finals of the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition in 2019. Since then, they have regularly impressed at European Hyperloop Week, winning the Most Scalable Design award in 2021 and recording top five and podium finishes in the years that followed. Their persistence and growth have made them one of the most respected student Hyperloop teams in the world.
Professors and mentors at IIT Madras say the team embodies the innovative spirit of Indian students who are capable of competing with the very best in futuristic mobility solutions. Team leaders echo that their success comes from the passion of every member and their vision of building technology that does not wait for the future but actively creates it.
Looking ahead, Avishkar Hyperloop is now working on incorporating artificial intelligence into its pods, improving energy efficiency and adapting its systems to Indian requirements in both freight and passenger transport. Their socio economic research is exploring models for pricing, safety and scalability, bridging the gap between ambitious prototypes and practical real world solutions.
This achievement shows that the dream of Hyperloop transport in India is no longer distant science fiction. With teams like Avishkar leading the charge, the possibility of high speed, sustainable and India ready Hyperloop travel is steadily becoming a reality.
