A Chinese aerospace group developing hyperloop-style ultra-fast rail travel says it has set a new speed record at its 2km-long test tunnel in Datong, Shanxi province.
The Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) kept secret the speed its vehicle reached, but said it broke the previous known record of 623km/h set in October 2023, South China Morning Post reports.
The technology magnetically levitates the train to eliminate friction as it moves through near-vacuum conditions in a tube.
CASIC started developing its system in 2017, aiming for maglev trains to reach 1,000km/h.
The group said the test also validated a number of technologies that must work well together.
“Science and technology progress step by step, and some aspects of this project are still in uncharted territory in China,” the project’s chief designer Mao Kai told a newspaper in China, reports the Post.
“Every step is challenging, and it’s a complex system,” Mao said.
In December, Hyperloop One, the company developing similar technology backed at one time by Virgin’s Richard Branson, announced that it was shutting down.
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