Faster Than Airplane

A model Maglev train that can travel as fast as a plane has been successfully developed in a laboratory in Southwest Chinese University, but putting the technology to use is still a long way away. The vacuum magnetic suspension train model is able to run at between 600 and 1,200 kph, equal to the speed of a plane.

The new technology is expected to be put into operation within 10 years and promoted across the country in 2030, the Shanghai-based Science Pictorial reported. Passengers will be able to travel from Beijing to Guangzhou in under two hours. A flight from the capital to Guangzhou takes three hours.

The technology, now being researched in just two other countries - the US and Switzerland – theoretically allows trains to run in vacuum tubes at speeds of up to 20,000 kph.

The report cited a number of other advantages: the technology would use just one-tenth of the fuel that a plane does, and emit almost zero noise.

However, the technology only has an experimental significance and is not currently feasible due to its astronomical costs. The cost for one kilometer of vacuum tube would be several times higher than that of a subway, which costs over 200 million yuan ($30 million).

Wang Mengshu, a professor at the Beijing Jiaotong University, was skeptical about the technology. ‘Developing a vacuum Maglev train is a complete scientific fantasy. It is impossible to develop a vacuum Maglev train at a speed of 20,000 kph technically and economically,’ Wang told the Global Times, adding that it was very dangerous for people to take a train in a vacuum state at an average speed of more than 350 kilometers per hour.