In accordance with China’s state media, the country unveiled a maglev train which posses a top speech of 600 kph on Tuesday.
Its maximum speed would make the train, self-developed by China. The train is manufactured in the coastal city of Qingdao and is the fastest ground vehicle globally.
With the use of electromagnetic force, the maglev train ‘levitates’ above the track keeping no contact between the body and the rail.
Reports suggest that China has been utilizing the technology for nearly two decades on a limited scale. Shanghai reportedly have a short maglev line that runs from one of its airport to town.
As yet, the country does not have any inter-city or inter-province maglev lines which could make use of the higher speed. However, certain cities along with Shanghai and Chengdu have commenced conducting the required research.
At 600 kph, it is estimated that the train will take only 2.5 hours to cover a distance of over 1,000 km (620 miles) which the almost the distance from Beijing to Shanghai. Comparing this journey with other means of transport, a plane takes 3 hours to complete while a high-speed train requires 5.5 hours.
Countries like Japan, Germany are looking forward to building maglev networks. However, its high cost coupled with incompatibility with the current track infrastructure stands as a threat to the rapid development.
