Patna: If everything goes well, Bihar may soon have 'skyTran', a NASA product, as a mode of transport which runs on magnetic levitation (maglev).Urban development and housing department (UDHD) minister Maheshwar Hazari on Monday had a meeting with the officials of Nightshade Global Infra Private Limited, the company which has the intellectual property rights to install skyTran in southeast Asia. Appreciating the concept, Hazari said it would help materialize chief minster Nitish Kumar's idea to reach the state capital from any part of Bihar in less than five hours. "This NASA product would definitely put Bihar's name in the global league in terms of best transport system," said Hazari.SkyTran would be like a pod hanging on wire (elevated magnetic track), which would be six metres above the ground and its diameter would be equal to that of electric pole. Each pod would accommodate four persons, said the company chairman and managing director, A K Prabhat Ranjan. "It will also have very low electricity consumption of around 10 kilowatt and that, too, just for charging the pod," he told TOI.Raj Gaurav, international business head of the company said skyTran would move at the speed of 120-140km per hour within the city and at 240km/hr in case of intercity journey. "It will be faster than mono rail and Metro as well as cheaper because its layout costs Rs90 to Rs120 crore per km against around Rs250 crore to Rs500 crore per kilometre of Metro or mono rail," he said.To request a pod, riders need to go to the nearest station and, after entering the pod, would simply press the button of their destination. SkyTran's computer system would send its passengers automatically to their destinations. "The system is the best replacement for ground transport, especially in unplanned city like Patna. It consists of a network of computer-controlled 4-seat vehicles, functioning on magnetic levitation technology. Its maintenance and running cost is low. It hardly consumes any electricity," Ranjan said.As of now, the company has been asked to produce technology demonstration system (TDS), which would be done in 15 months.