The world's fastest train is on the way, although the technology remains at a testing stage in the laboratory.
China is testing the so-called super-maglev train, which operates in a vacuum tube and could reach as high as 2,900 kilometers per hour, Hong Kong Commercial Daily reported Monday.
Chinese researchers at the Applied Superconductivity Laboratory of Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu have successfully tested a concept train encapsulated in a vacuum tube, which would help reduce the speed limitations imposed by air resistance on regular maglev trains.
Dr. Deng Zigang, who led the project, said his team has already successfully reached a speed of 25 km per minute, and researchers are now working on a vacuum tube, which could lift the speed limit to 50 km per minute in the future.
If successful, that would mark a great breakthrough in China's ambitious plan to export the high-speed train to the United States.
China is now in talks to build a high-speed railway that would connect the Chinese capital Beijing with the continental US. The China-US rail link may use the magnetic levitation technology, according to media reports.
The entire journey from China to the US would take only two days.
Currently, the Shanghai Maglev Train connecting Pudong International Airport and Longyang Road subway station operates at a speed of over 430 kilometers per hour, making it the world's fastest passenger-carrying train.
China is testing the so-called super-maglev train, which operates in a vacuum tube and could reach as high as 2,900 kilometers per hour, Hong Kong Commercial Daily reported Monday.
Chinese researchers at the Applied Superconductivity Laboratory of Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu have successfully tested a concept train encapsulated in a vacuum tube, which would help reduce the speed limitations imposed by air resistance on regular maglev trains.
Dr. Deng Zigang, who led the project, said his team has already successfully reached a speed of 25 km per minute, and researchers are now working on a vacuum tube, which could lift the speed limit to 50 km per minute in the future.
If successful, that would mark a great breakthrough in China's ambitious plan to export the high-speed train to the United States.
China is now in talks to build a high-speed railway that would connect the Chinese capital Beijing with the continental US. The China-US rail link may use the magnetic levitation technology, according to media reports.
The entire journey from China to the US would take only two days.
Currently, the Shanghai Maglev Train connecting Pudong International Airport and Longyang Road subway station operates at a speed of over 430 kilometers per hour, making it the world's fastest passenger-carrying train.
