Chinese scientists develop train ‘that can travel as fast as plane’

NEW DELHI - Scientists have successfully developed a model Maglev train that can travel as fast as a plane in a laboratory in Southwest China.

But putting the technology to use is still a long way away, an official from the lab told the Global Times.

Under research conducted by the Traction Power State Key Laboratory at the Southwest Jiaotong University, the vacuum magnetic suspension train model was able to run at between 600 and 1,200 kilometers per hour, equal to the speed of a plane, according to Shuai Bin, vice dean of the university’s Traffic School.

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.

“It’s just an experimental success. Its actual value is slim as there is a great gulf in adopting it for practical use,” Bin said.

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 kilometers per hour, according to Science Pictorial.

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.

“All those advantages are just bubbles before a new transport system of vacuum tubes is built across the country, and the cost would be astronomical,” Bin said, adding that 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 dollars).

The technology only has an experimental significance and is not currently feasible due to its astronomical costs, he said. (ANI)