China's high-speed magnetic levitation train that can travel at speeds of up to 600 kilometers per hour rolled off the assembly line Tuesday in Qingdao, Shandong province, People's Daily reported.
The system, which has been integrated and commissioned, is the world's first maglev transportation system to reach that speed and is a cutting-edge technological achievement in the world of rail transportation, the report said.
As an emerging transportation mode, high-speed maglev has the advantages of high speed, safety and reliability, high passenger capacity and low maintenance.
At the end of December 2020, the prototype of China's 600 km/h high-speed magnetic levitation project was assembled in Qingdao.
After the 600 km/h high-speed magnetic levitation engineering prototype system is launched, China will have a full set of high-speed magnetic levitation technology and engineering capabilities.
The demonstration project of high-speed magnetic levitation is expected to promote the industrialization of this technology and to pull the upgrade of China's high-end equipment manufacturing.
At present, the maximum operating speed of China's high-speed railway is 350 km/h and the cruising speed of aircraft is 800~900 km/h. High-speed magnetic levitation at 600 km/h can fill the speed gap between high-speed railway and air transportation.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 24 to mark the official launch of a test line in China's northern province of Shanxi designed for speeds of up to 1,000 kilometers per hour, according to Science and Technology Daily.
The high-speed train uses superconducting magnetic levitation technology to disengage from the ground to eliminate frictional drag and a near-vacuum pipeline inside to dramatically reduce air resistance to achieve travel speeds of more than 1,000 km/h, according to Ma Tiehua, dean of the school of electrical and control engineering at North University of China, as quoted in the report.
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