SOURCE / COMPANIES
China completes ‘super bullet maglev’ prototype with peak speed of 620 km/h
Published: Jan 13, 2021 12:03 PM

Photo taken on Dec. 15, 2020 shows a new type of middle-to-low-speed magnetic-levitation train finished in Changchun City of northeast China's Jilin Province. Chinese train maker CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. on Tuesday rolled out a new type of middle-to-low-speed magnetic-levitation train. The train, with a maximum operational speed of 120 km per hour, will be deployed on a tourist route in Qingyuan City, south China's Guangdong Province, according to the company. (Xinhua)

A prototype of a high-temperature superconducting maglev train, dubbed as the "super bullet maglev train" with a maximum speed of 620 kilometers (km) per hour, rolled off production line on Wednesday in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The train is the first of its kind, and was designed and manufactured in China, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency. 

The completion of this engineering prototype and its testing tracks marked a "zero to one" moment in the study of high-temperature superconducting maglev, Xinhua said.

The high-temperature superconducting maglev is different from the existing maglevs in the world, which use low-temperature superconducting technology, and enables a firmer ride for the train.

With its all-carbon fiber lightweight body, bullet-shaped nose and the heavy-haul high-temperature superconducting technology, the prototype train has a designed peak speed of 620 km per hour, likely the fastest of any vehicles running on earth, according to the Xinhua report.

Combined with vacuum tube or tunnel technology, the train is expected to bring subversive transformation to rail transit sector, said the report.