‘Flying train’ which will travel at 2,500mph in China

Trains are the best way for long-distance travel. Train travel in China is a comfortable and fun way to know the country at a reasonable price. Huge investment over recent years has put high-speed rail at the heart of China’s rapid modernization drive.

Ambitious plans to create a high-speed ‘flying train’ in China have been unveiled – but experts have voiced their skepticism.

The idea has been put forward by The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, which says the trains will have a top speed of 2,500mph – three times the speed of sound.

Under the plans, the South China Morning Post reports, capsules will fly along reduced-pressure tubes.

Professor Zhao Jian, from the Beijing Transport University, told the publication that the human body would only be able to cope with the speeds for a short time, and said: ‘In that case, are the passengers going to be astronauts only?’

And one Weibo user, quoted by the South China Morning Post, joked: ‘Can the government please invent technology to solve traffic jams first? It takes me an hour to drive from the fifth to the third ring road.’

In an editorial piece in the state-owned newspaper, The Paper, the company behind the plans wrote: ‘The corporation has built rich experience and accumulated technological know-how through major projects, and it has the capabilities in simulation, modelling and experimentation for large-scale projects, as well as the world-class design capability for supersonic aircraft, all of which lay the important ground for the super-fast train project.’

The trains are set to rival the Hyperloop concept put forward by Elon Musk, which would see trains without wheels propelled by air, and is mooted to have a top speed of 700mph.

Questions have been raised about whether the human body will be able to cope with the speed