Lift off for railway of the future

Exporter planning to develop hovering trains to travel up to 600 km/h

China's railway vehicle and equipment exporter plans to begin research and development for a magnetic levitation, or maglev, train that can reach 600 kph - the fastest of its kind currently in service.

China Railway Rolling Stock Corp Ltd will also build a 5 kilometer track to test it.

The project will be led by CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co Ltd in Shandong province, one of the three subsidiary bullet-train makers, the company said in a statement.

CRRC will also develop maglev trains with speeds of up to 200 kph at CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co in Hunan province.

"The goal for these two projects is to establish domestic technology and standard systems for new-generation medium- and high-speed maglev transportation that can be applied globally," says Sun Bangcheng, deputy director of CRRC's office for major project development.

Investment in these projects will reach 3.22 billion yuan ($476 million; 437 million euros; 391 million). The government will allocate 433 million yuan, with the remainder to be raised by CRRC.

Compared with other types of urban rail transportation, Sun says maglev trains are quiet and can achieve high speeds because they don't actually ride on rails with wheels but hover centimeters above the track through the use of magnets, avoiding friction, which reduces speed.

The world's first maglev line was launched in Shanghai in 2002, connecting a metro station to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. With speeds of up to 430 kph, its 30 km route takes less than eight minutes to travel.

Beijing is also currently building a low-speed maglev urban rail route - the S1 line - which will pass through Shijingshan and end in Mentougou in the city's western outskirts. The 11-km line will be operational by the end of next year.

CRRC will also start research and development of cross-border high-speed trains that can run at 400 km/h and alternate between different track gauges, ranging from 60 cm to 1.676 meters.

"Such trains will consume 10 percent less energy than the country's 350 kph bullet trains currently in use," says Sun Fuquan, a researcher specializing in railway vehicles at the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development in Beijing.

China has seen rapid development of its high-speed railways in recent years, with their total length exceeding 20,000 km, the world's longest high-speed rail network.

Contact the writers at zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn