(Yicai Global) June 20 -- China is building a test line for the world's fastest vacuum high-temperature superconducting magnetic levitation ratio model vehicle in the western Chinese city of Chengdu, the Science and Technology Daily newspaper quoted Prof. Zhang Weihua from Southwest Jiaotong University, as saying yesterday.

China is expected to complete the line and start testing it by the end of this year, he said at a forum on high-speed rail technology development yesterday in Beijing.

The new test line is built in 4.2-meter-diameter, 140-meter-long tube, and the vehicle will be go through its paces in a low-pressure environment, public information shows. The bottom of the test vehicle is covered with tailor-made high-temperature superconducting materials, enabling it to achieve superconductivity and magnetic suspension through low temperatures induced by liquid nitrogen. The vehicle was able to travel up to 400 kilometers per hour during trials.

The multi-state coupling rail transit test platform project undertaken by Southwest Jiaotong University also plans to assay vehicles with different maglev models in a 1,500-meter-long vacuum tube, Zhang said, adding that their test speed will exceed the speed of sound and theoretically could reach as high as 1,500 kilometers per hour.

"The platform is likely to receive construction approvals in September and be completed in about 31 months," Zhang noted.
Editor: Ben Armour