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Richard Branson-owned Virgin Group has reached out to transport minister Nitin Gadkari with a proposal to establish a hyperloop transportation system between New Delhi and Mumbai, after the Maharashtra government decided to shelve the company’s proposed project in the state last month.

According to a  source Virgin Group has approached Gadkari—who is known for his openness to adopting new technologies—to develop a 1,300-km line between the national capital and Mumbai. Executives of the group are in India for the next two days and are meeting various stakeholders for the technology, the person said.

Hyperloop use magnets to levitate pods inside an airless tube, creating conditions in which the pods can shuttle people and freight at speeds of up to 1,200 km per hour.

Senior executives from the Virgin Group have met the transport minister to discuss this. The talks are at a very preliminary stage and they may submit a formal proposal to Gadkari.

Speaking at a public event here , Gadkari also mentioned that he had met investors earlier in the day and discussed a bullet train-like project.

Virgin Hyperloop One’s proposed Pune-Mumbai link project was okayed by the BJP government in the state last year. The first phase of the plan entailed an 11.8 km-long track. The project would have needed up to $10 billion in investment and up in 2.5 years to be completed. Last month, the Uddhav Thackarey-led state government decided against implementing it amid doubts about its capsule technology, which is not yet operational anywhere in the world.

“We do not have the capacity to experiment with hyperloop. We will concentrate on other modes of transport and, in the meantime, if that technology develops more with successful trials abroad, we can think about it,” Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar had said in a recent statement.

Billionaire entrepreneur Branson’s diversified conglomerate Virgin Group has interests in aviation, hospitality, music, telecom and space travel.