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China unveils scale model of 1,000 km/h train

China has unveiled a scale model of a maglev train that has been set the target of reaching 1,000 km/h by 2025, a report said yesterday (11 October).

The Global Times website, quoting the Chengdu Business Daily, said the "T-Flight" model was exhibited at the 2018 National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

China currently operates the world’s largest network of 350 km/h bullet trains, but it is working on a Hyperloop-style design that would allow trains to float 10cm above the ground on a magnetic field in a vacuum tube.

Wang Yan, an employee at China Aerospace Science, said the train would slowly accelerate to 1,000km/h so that passengers would be comfortable and feel safe. He added that China Aerospace Science had been somewhat behind other companies developing maglev technology, but was catching up because of its aerospace experience.

The train will reach the test speed of 1,000 km/h by 2023, and will be capable of carrying passengers at that speed by 2025, Chengdu Business Daily reported. However, the deadline of 2025 is just for a full-scale model – the development of a commercial system is rather further in the future.

Meanwhile, Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu is experimenting on a similar system that, it hopes, will allow trains to achieve a speed of 1,500 km/h, according to the Beijing-based newspaper Science and Technology Daily.

Image: China operates a maglev service to and from Shanghai airport (Alex Needham/Creative Commons)

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