Plans for high-speed maglev lines with trains traveling at 600 kilometers per hour or faster are taking shape between some Chinese cities in a bid to boost regional integration and economic growth. Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, is considering a high-speed maglev line with a top speed of 800 km/h to Chongqing. The train is expected to cut travel time between the two cities to 30 minutes, down from one hour and 13 minutes on the current maximum 350 km/h high-speed service. Wuhan, Hubei province, is also eyeing a maglev train, with China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corp, to begin construction work next year. A team led by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) is also conducting a preliminary feasibility study on a high-speed maglev line in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with a designed maximum speed of 600 km/h, He Huawu, Vice President of the Academy, said in July at the 2019 World Transport Convention in Beijing.

Jia Limin, Engineering Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and head of China’s high-speed rail innovation program, said such speeds were much closer to airplane cruising speeds. Lacking wheels, future maglev trains achieve such speeds by running in a vacuum tube to minimize air resistance. “Maglev is the future of ultrafast trains since it’s fast, safe, reliable and low maintenance,” Jia said. “It can fill the service gap between the high-speed rail network and aviation, which will further boost the flow of talent in neighboring provinces and even nationwide and thus propel regional economic growth and prosperity.” In May, China Railway Rolling Stock Corp Qingdao Sifang unveiled a prototype maglev train with a designed top speed of 600 km/h. The engineering prototype is expected to roll off the production line next year before undergoing comprehensive testing in 2021 in preparation for commercial production.

The existing maglev train service on a 30-km track between downtown Shanghai and Shanghai Pudong International Airport operates at a maximum speed of 430 km/h. Since operating its first maglev railway more than a decade ago, China has concentrated on conventional high-speed rail because maglev was hindered by many critical technologies at that time,” said Sun Zhang, Engineering Professor at Shanghai Tongji University. “But now we have been learning advanced technologies from foreign countries, digesting and absorbing, and eventually developed our own innovations over the past years, finally laying a technological basis for an engineering prototype,” Sun said.

A set of technical standards for maglev railways, released by the National Railway Administration, will be implemented on a trial basis from January 1, based on opinions gathered from government agencies and scientific research institutes, and unifying basic technical requirements, the China Daily reports.