QINGDAO, CHINA — China's state media says the country has just unveiled a new train that levitates on magnetic fields and can travel over 600 kilometers per hour. <br /><br />Unfortunately, there are no rail lines that can make use of such a train in China at the moment. Here are the details:<br /><br />Reuters reports that China unveiled a maglev train capable of a top speed of 600 kilometers per hour, or 370 miles per hour, on Tuesday, July 21. <br /><br />That maximum speed would make the train, which was self-developed by China and manufactured in the coastal city of Qingdao, the fastest ground vehicle in the world. <br /><br />Using electro-magnetic force, the maglev train "levitates" above the track with no contact between itself and the rail. <br /><br />This means that the train hovers on magnetic fields created by huge currents of electricity. <br /><br />China has been using the technology for almost two decades on a very limited scale. Shanghai has a short maglev line running from one of its airports to town. <br /><br />While there are currently no inter-city maglev lines in China that could make good use of the higher speeds, cities like Shanghai and Chengdu have started to conduct research. <br /><br />At 600 kilometers per hour, it would only take two-and-a-half hours to travel from Beijing to Shanghai by train — a journey of more than 1,000 kilometers, or 620 miles. <br /><br />Such a journey would take three hours by plane or five-and-a-half hours by high-speed rail.<br /><br />Countries from Japan to Germany are also looking to build maglev networks, although high costs and incompatibility with current track infrastructure remain hurdles to rapid development.<br /><br />Advances in train technology have taken off in recent years, with Japan developing a bullet train capable of reaching 400 kilometers per hour, or 250 miles per hour.
