China’s ‘floating’ hyperloop train will shuttle passengers at record-breaking speeds of 621mph – faster than a PLANE

Travelling by train at speeds close to a commercial jet sounds like the stuff of dreams for busy commuters. 

Now, China is getting closer to making this a reality for its 1.4 billion citizens. 

The country has just started construction on a new line for its ‘maglev’ network – which uses magnets to lift the carriages above the track. 

Ultimately, China wants to build a vast network of maglev trains across the country, which would go at more than 621 miles (1,000km) for passengers. 

This is pushing towards the speed of a Boeing 737 plane at cruising altitude – mph 560 mph. 

These maglev trains will be transported in hyperloops – enclosed tunnels to reduce air resistance and hence let the maglev trains go faster. 

However, there is still some engineering work to be done – the fastest trains in history have travelled at under 400mph.

China already has two maglev train lines –  Changsha Maglev and Shanghai Maglev – but these only go as fast as 62 mph and 268 mph, respectively. 

China has now begun construction on a new part of the maglev network, reports Global Times, the daily tabloid newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party.

This extension will stretch 30 miles (48.7km) between Changsha and Liuyang in Hunan province, Global Times reports, citing a statement from local government. 

Costing 10.44 billion yuan (£1.1 billion), it’s an extension of the existing Changsha Maglev line, which is China’s second maglev line after Shanghai Maglev, the world’s first commercially operated high-speed maglev. 

The designed speed of the extension will around 100mph (160km) per hour, but other lines in the country’s maglev network go much faster than this. 

Shanghai Maglev, which opened more than two decades ago, is still the fastest commercial train in the world with peak speeds of 268mph (431 km/h). 

Transporting thousands of passengers and tourists per day, Shanghai Maglev makes a 19 mile (30.5km) trip between two terminals in the city in less than 7.5 minutes. 

While China has been using maglev technology for almost two decades on a very limited scale, it has grand ambitions to extend it across the country. 

Parts of the network would be ‘hyperloop’, meaning they would transport people at top speeds in tubes between distant locations. 

China already has the world’s first commercial maglev system. Shanghai Maglev (pictured) opened more than two decades ago, is still the fastest commercial train in the world

While China has been using maglev technology for almost two decades on a very limited scale, it has grand ambitions to extend it across the country. Pictured, interior of a train on the Changsha Maglev network in 2016

The concept – first proposed in 1910 by US engineer Robert Goddard – received renewed interest in 2013 due to a white paper by billionaire entrepreneur and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

Currently, maglev speeds are limited at less than 300 miles per hour due to the excessive air resistance encountered at these speeds.

But vacuum tube designs known as hyperloops could allow them to travel over seven times faster in the future.

Chinese engineers are still working on trains that will be able to run on this futuristic maglev network at high speeds all around the country. 

For example, the ‘T-Flight’ train being worked on by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) recently reached a record speed of 387mph 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 ‘Fuxing’ bullet trains, but they do not use the maglev (magnetic levitation) technology.  

The existing Changsha Maglev line is China’s second maglev line after Shanghai Maglev. Pictured, a Changsha maglev train arriving at Langli Station

China also has high-speed ‘Fuxing’ bullet trains, but they do not use the maglev (magnetic levitation) technology. Pictured, Fuxing train departing from Fuzhounan Railway Station

However, China achieving its grand maglev ambition could take decades, not to mention billions of pounds akin to the UK’s upcoming HS2 train line (which for comparison goes at 225mph). 

Countries from Japan to Germany are also looking to build maglev networks, although high costs and incompatibility with current track infrastructure remain hurdles to rapid development. 

The world’s fastest train was built by Japan, but it has yet to be put into commercial use.

Operated by Japan Railways Group, the maglev train set the world record after reaching 374mph (603kph) on an experimental track in 2016.

Another maglev train in Japan reached 361mph on a test track in 2003. 

WHAT IS THE HYPERLOOP?

Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at roughly 700mph between distant locations.

It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who at the time said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes – half the time it takes a plane.

It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum. For safety reasons, Hyperloop tunnels need escape hatches in case of fire. 

The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes. 

There are now a number of firms vying to bring the technology to life, including Elon Musk himself, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, and Virgin Hyperloop One.  

As several firms vie to create the first operational Hyperloop, Elon Musk’s vision of a radical transport system that could ferry passengers above land at 760 miles per hour continues to inch closer to reality