China unveils ‘world’s fastest’ high-speed train capable of travelling more than 370 miles per hour 

China has unveiled what it hopes to be the fastest train in the world with a top speed of more than 370 miles per hour. 

The new train, self-developed by China and manufactured in the coastal city of Qingdao, uses maglev technology which allows it to travel so quickly. 

Using electro-magnetic force, the maglev train ‘levitates’ above the tracks with no contact between body and rail.

The train, capable of travelling at 372 mph (600kph), would be able to travel from London to Paris in 34 minutes, compared to the Eurostar fleet’s two hours and 16 minutes. 

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Today, the blue and black locomotive travelled out of the manufacturing building of the state-owned CRRC Qingdao Sifang, China’s official train builder, in Qingdao.   

‘Welcome to the high-speed maglev train that runs at 600kph,’ read a digital screen inside the train, according to video by Xinhua news agency. 

The train will be put into service in between five to 10 years, Liang Jianying, CRRC Qingdao Sifang’s deputy general manager and chief engineer, told China Central Television. 

The locomotive can travel with two to 10 carriages, each holding more than 100 passengers, Ding Sansan, chief engineer of the project told Xinhua News agency.  

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.

While there are no inter-city or inter-province maglev lines yet in China that could make good use of the higher speeds, some cities including Shanghai and Chengdu have started to conduct research.

At 372 mph, the train would only take 2.5 hours to travel from Beijing to Shanghai by train – a journey of more than 1,000 km (620 miles).

By comparison, the journey would take 3 hours by plane and 5.5 hours by high-speed rail. 

The unveiling comes after China revealed a prototype of a super-fast bullet train that engineers claim could reach 385 miles per hour. 

Dubbed as the ‘super bullet maglev train’, the model rolled off the production line and made its debut at a ceremony in the south-western city of Chengdu in January. 

Southwest Jiaotong University collaborated with two state-run companies, China Railway Group and CRRC Corporation, to develop the prototype in a 60million yuan (£6.8million) transport innovation programme, reported Xinhua News Agency. 

The homemade prototype is a 21-meter-long (69-foot-long) locomotive designed to travel at a top speed of 620 kilometres (385 miles) per hour. 

It uses high-temperature superconducting (HTS) maglev technology, different from the low-temperature technology employed by Germany and Japan in their maglev trains, according to experts from Southwest Jiaotong University.

The team claims that the Chinese version is more lightweight with a simpler structure. It is also cheaper to manufacture and operate. 

The engineers consider the HTS technology more suitable for the futuristic ‘vacuum transportation’, which could see ultra-high-speed maglev trains zipping in vacuum tubes in speeds over 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) per hour.

‘The HTS technology can make the train float without electricity, and it can be moved with just one hand,’ Deng Zigang, a professor from the university, told Xinhua.

Pictures and footage released by Chinese media outlets show the silver-and-black carbon-fibre locomotive pulling into its presentation at Southwest Jiaotong University.

The university also launched an experimental railway track on Wednesday. The line, measuring 541 feet (165 metres) long, will be used to test the prototype and related technologies.

China has the world’s largest high-speed railway network, which measures a staggering 35,000 kilometres (21,747 miles) as of 2019. 

At present, the country’s high-speed passenger trains operate at a maximum speed of 350 kilometres (217 miles) per hour. Residents can travel between Beijing and Shanghai, the nation’s political and financial centres, in 4.5 hours.

China also has the world’s first commercial maglev system.

The 18.6-mile (30-kilometre) stretch, opened in 2002 in Shanghai, connects Shanghai Pudong Airport and the city centre and reportedly cost more than £1billion to build. 

The Shanghai maglev was jointly developed by Shanghai Maglev Transportation Development and a German consortium consisting of Siemens AG, Thyssen Transrapid GMBH and Transrapid International GMBH.

It is the world’s fastest commercial train system, with carriages running up to 431 kilometres (267 miles) per hour.

Japan built the fastest-ever train in the world to date, but has yet to put it into commercial use.

The maglev train, operated by Japan Railways Group, set the world record after reaching 603 kilometres (374 miles) per hour on an experimental track in 2016.

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.