Traveling by train at speeds close to a commercial radius sounds like a dream for busy commuters.
Now China is moving closer to making this a reality for its 1.4 billion citizens.
The country has just started building a new line for its ‘maglev’ network, which uses magnets to lift carriages above the track.
Ultimately, China wants to build an extensive network of maglev trains across the country, which could take passengers a distance of more than 1,000 km.
This is close to the speed of a Boeing 737 aircraft at cruising altitude – 900 km/h.
These magnetic trains will be transported in hyperloops – closed tunnels to reduce air resistance and thus allow the magnetic trains to travel faster.
However, there is still some engineering work to be done: the fastest trains in history have traveled at speeds of less than 640 km/h.
China already has two magnetic railway lines – Changsha Maglev and Shanghai Maglev – but they only travel at 100 km/h and 430 km/h respectively.
China wants to build an extensive network of maglev trains – one that uses magnets to lift the wagons above the track. These will be transported in hyperloops: closed tunnels to reduce air resistance and thus allow the magnetic trains to travel faster
China has now started construction of a new part of the maglev network, reports say Global timesthe daily tabloid newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.
This extension will stretch 48.7 kilometers between Changsha and Liuyang in Hunan province, Global Times reported, citing a local government statement.
Costing 10.44 billion yuan (£1.1 billion), it is an extension of the existing Changsha Maglev Line, China’s second maglev line after Shanghai Maglev, the world’s first commercially operated high-speed malev line.
The designed speed of the extension will be around 160 km per hour, but other lines in the country’s maglev network are moving much faster than this.
Shanghai Maglev, which opened more than two decades ago, is still the fastest commercial train in the world with top speeds of 431 km/h.
Shanghai Maglev carries thousands of passengers and tourists every day, covering a 30.5 kilometer journey between two terminals in the city in less than 7.5 minutes.
Although China has been using maglev technology on a very limited scale for almost two decades, it has grand ambitions to expand it across the country.
Parts of the network would be a ‘hyperloop’, meaning they would transport people at top speed in tubes between distant locations.
China already has the world’s first commercial maglev system. Shanghai Maglev (photo), opened more than twenty years ago, is still the fastest commercial train in the world
Although China has been using maglev technology on a very limited scale for almost two decades, it has grand ambitions to expand it across the country. Pictured: Interior of a train on the Changsha Maglev Network in 2016
The concept – first proposed in 1910 by American engineer Robert Goddard – gained renewed interest in 2013 thanks to a white paper from billionaire entrepreneur and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Currently, maglev speeds are limited to less than 300 miles per hour due to the excessive drag encountered at these speeds.
But vacuum tube designs known as hyperloops could allow them to travel more than seven times faster in the future.
Chinese engineers are still working on trains that can run at high speeds across the country on this futuristic magnet network.
For example, the ‘T-Flight’ train that the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) is working on recently reached a record speed of 620 km/h on a short test track.
At such speeds, it would only take less than two hours to travel from Beijing to Shanghai – a journey of more than 1,000 km (620 miles).
By comparison, the journey would take three hours by plane and 5.5 hours by high-speed rail.
China also has high-speed trains, ‘Fuxing’, but these do not use maglev technology (magnetic levitation).
The existing Changsha Maglev line is China’s second magnetic line after Shanghai Maglev. In the photo, a magnetic train from Changsha arrives at Langli Station
China also has high-speed trains, ‘Fuxing’, but these do not use maglev technology (magnetic levitation). Pictured: A Fuxing train departing from Fuzhounan Train Station
However, it may take decades for China to realize its grand maglev ambition, not to mention the billions of pounds equivalent to Britain’s upcoming HS2 train line (which, by comparison, reaches a speed of 220mph ).
Countries from Japan to Germany also want to build maglev networks, although high costs and incompatibility with current rail infrastructure remain obstacles to rapid development.
The fastest train in the world was built by Japan, but has yet to be used commercially.
The magnetic train, operated by the Japan Railways Group, set the world record after reaching a speed of 603 km/h on an experimental track in 2016.
Another magnetic train in Japan reached a speed of 580 km/h on a test track in 2003.
WHAT IS THE HYPERLOOP?
Hyperloop is a proposed travel method that could transport people between distant locations at a speed of approximately 700 miles per hour.
It was unveiled in 2013 by Elon Musk, who said at the time that it could take passengers the 380 miles (610 km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes – half the time it takes a plane.
It is essentially a long tube from which the air has been removed to create a vacuum. For safety reasons, Hyperloop tunnels require escape hatches in case of fire.
The pipe hangs above the ground to protect against weather influences and earthquakes.
There are now a number of companies vying to bring the technology to life, including Elon Musk himself, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and Virgin Hyperloop One.
As several companies compete to create the first operational Hyperloop, Elon Musk’s vision of a radical transportation system that can carry passengers over land at speeds of 750 miles per hour is moving closer to reality.