China is developing a high-speed train that could travel at 621mph while magnetically levitating on the tracks.
Railway engineers in China are working to launch the world’s first working hyperloop train within a decade.
Using existing magnetic levitation technology, or maglev as it is known, the futuristic high-speed trains could one day travel faster than the cruising speed of a passenger plane. However, hyperloop technology is not without its controversies.
The world’s second most populous country wants to have a vast network of maglev trains to cut down travel times.
It already boasts two middle-to-low-speed magnetic lines called the Changsha maglev line and the Shanghai maglev, but the government has its eyes set on a high-speed version.
Currently, the world’s fastest operating train is the Shanghai maglev which can travel at a top speed of 268mph (431kmh). It can cover the 19-mile distance between Longyang Road Station in Shanghai to Shanghai Pudong International Airport in just under eight minutes.
The maglev technology allows trains to practically float above the tracks which creates a smoother and quieter journey, according to Railwaytechnology.com.
The high-speed ‘hyperloop’ trains would travel inside a vacuum-like tube to maximise speed and minimise running into obstacles.
However, the high speed has proven to be a challenge for 5G mobile phone connections – as the train moves fast, the signals catch on different bases, according to Interesting Engineering.
Engineers have suggested installing two parallel cables along the inner wall of the high-speed maglev tube, according to the South China Morning Post.
Cities in China are seeking to get approval to construct the first commercial vacuum tube maglev line, also known as a hyperloop.
The possible locations for the hyperloop are the Beijing-Shijiazhuang route or the Guangzhou-Shenzhen line, and China wants the first hyperloop to be open by 2035.
However, the hyperloop has been criticised as unrealistic due to the high costs involved and the need to entirely new rail infrastructure as the high-speed magnetic trains cannot use existing rails.
China is thought to be the only country currently actively advancing the technology after it was abandoned by Tesla’s Elon Musk last year, Interesting Engineering says. Some commercial companies, such as the Swisspod, have continued hyperloop tests.
While research continues on the high-speed maglev, construction has begun on an extension of another low-to-medium-speed maglev line in Changsha.
The 30-mile stretch would connect Changsha and Liuyang, Hunan province, and cost around 10.44 billion yuan ($1.45 billion), according to Global Times, a newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party.
Trains will travel at around 100mph on the new stretch.
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