Late last week in Shandong province, state-owned rail company China Railway wheeled vehicle Corporation (CRRC) unveiled the body prototype for its new high-speed magnetic-levitation (maglev) train, which it claims will reach an astonishing top speed of 373 miles (600 km) per hour. With a promised launch date of 2021, the corporate hopes the new trains will bridge the gap between high-speed rail and transportation, revolutionizing how people travel throughout China within the process.
Here are five things to understand about the new maglev train:
It will complete some trips faster than a plane.
No, it’s still not as fast as a plane, but the maglev train is the world’s fastest when it launches—for a long time a minimum of. (Most current high-speed trains operating between 200 and 275 miles per hour.) When factoring in prep time, CRRC claims the maglev train will complete some trips within China even faster than its airborne counterparts. “Take Beijing to Shanghai as an example—counting preparation time for the journey, it takes about 4.5 hours by plane, about 5.5 hours by high-speed rail, and [would only take] about 3.5 hours with [the new] high-speed maglev,” CRRC deputy chief engineer Ding Sansan said during a statement.
It literally floats on air.
You wanted a hovercraft, you bought one. The new train is ready to travel so fast thanks to its design. It uses magnetic repulsion to levitate but two inches off the rails and propel itself forward, reports UPI. this suggests that instead of having its wheels in constant contact with the track, it rides along on a cushion of air.
It was relatively short three years within the making.
First announced in 2015, CRRC’s train is that the results of a three-year collaboration between the Chinese government, research institutes, universities, and 30 businesses. in step with Ding, the lightweight, and high-strength train body will allow CRRC to check out five different prototypes before committing to a final design.
There’s still plenty of labor to try to do.
Of course, there are lots that have to be done before passengers are able to zoom around China at 370-plus miles per hour. Those styles of speeds require an exacting level of stability and precision to keep up a smooth ride. At the revealing, the corporate announced that later this year, its subsidiary in Qingdao will open a high-speed maglev trial production center so the train is tested extensively before going into production.
The race for the world’s fastest train has just begun.
CRRC’s train isn’t the sole next-gen maglev train currently in development, in step with The Verge. Japan is currently building a 314-mile-per-hour maglev line between Tokyo and Nagoya that it hopes to own operational by 2027. The country previously set a record, in 2015, when one amongst its maglev trains hit a top speed of 375 miles per hour. When that train officially debuts to the general public in 2027, it’ll become the new world’s fastest train