Bad news for Elon Musk as China unveils world’s fastest train with top speed of…, its name is…m

Tesla founder Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, envisions building a Hyperloop system– the world’s fastest public transportation system, but China may just have shattered his dreams as its successfully conducted a demo run of its new its new ultra-high-speed (UHS) maglev transportation system, which reached speeds of 1,000 km per hour, much higher that what Musk could have ever imagined for his Hyperloop.

According to Chinese media reports, the first test run of the Maglev train was conducted inside a 2-km-long pipeline with a low-vacuum environment in China’s Shanxi Province. Jointly developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited and Shanxi, the UHS low-vacuum tube magnetic levitation transportation system, successfully completed its first full-scale trial run, they said.

During the test, the maglev train achieved controlled navigation, stable suspension and safe stopping, in accordance with the predetermined curve, according to a CGTN report, adding that the test results showed he maximum speed and suspension height of the vehicle were consistent with the preset values.

All systems operated normally, and the vehicle’s moving track closely matched the theoretical trajectory, it said. The report further said that the demo run verified the establishment and maintenance of a long-distance, large-scale vacuum environment, superconducting navigation control and other key technologies, as well as the coordination between various systems in a low-vacuum environment and the performance of the entire system.

China’s Maglev train can reach speeds over 2000 km/h

The Maglev system, first proposed in 1910 by American engineer Robert Goddard, gained traction in 2013 after Elon Musk wrote a white paper on the subject. The Maglev train, so named as it uses magnetic levitation (maglev) technology to reach unimaginable speeds, does not need wheels unlike traditional trains. Instead the wheels are replaced with magnets which lift the pods above the track, allowing them to glide effortlessly over the magnetized track.

According to China, its Maglev train recently reached a record-breaking speeding 387mph (over 622 kmph), tumbling the record of Japan’s MLX01 Maglev, currently the world’s fastest train, which has a top speed of 361mph.

Chinese engineers believe that their maglev system will be able to reach hypersonic speeds of over 1,243mph or over 2000 kmph — faster than the speed of sound and double the speed of a Boeing 737 aircraft, once commercial operations begin.

If estimates are accurate the maglev system would significantly reduce travel times across China, reaching Wuhan to Beijing in just over 30 minutes, in contrast to the current high-speed train which takes four hours to complete the journey.