[photopress:maglevtrain_1.jpg,full,alignright]According to a government report from the Ministry of Science and Technology China will develop its own magnetically levitated (maglev) trains that can travel at speeds of up to 500 kilometers per hour. A 30-kilometer-long test line will be built before 2010.
If and when they come into service these trains will be, by a long stretch, the fastest passenger trains in use in the world.
Wang Xiaofang, director of the ministry’s planning bureau, said the maglev trains are listed in the ‘national scientific and technological support projects’ of the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010) that aims to ‘solve crucial science and technology problems that hamper China’s economic and social development.’
China built a 30-kilometer-long maglev link from Shanghai to the city’s main airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, in 2003 using German technology. 15 of its new ‘bullet’ trains helped deal with the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day. The current ‘bullet’ trains have a maximum speed of 200kph.
Source: China View