A Chinese research team has successfully completed the country's first full-size superconducting test run for a planned ultra-high-speed magnetic levitation (maglev) passenger train, according to the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).
The maglev train is expected to be used for commuting between mega-city clusters in the future. A superconducting maglev test line has been built in Datong City, north China's Shanxi Province.
World's fastest land travel
Once completed, it will be capable of running at 1,000 kilometers per hour (621 mph) under ideal conditions in a low-vacuum tube.
Speaking at a science popularization exhibition held in Beijing Sunday, Li Ping, a member of the project at CASIC, said that more experiments will be conducted to reach the maximum speed and to verify the entire system's reliability, according to the South China Morning Post.
The fastest train running on a regular schedule is currently the Beijing to Shanghai line, at 350 km/h (217 mph), according to the High Speed Rail Alliance. It's also the only operating maglev train in the world at this time. California is building a 220-mph High-Speed Rail.