(Yicai Global) Aug. 30 -- China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp. (CASIC), the country's main contractor for its space program, will develop a high-speed train that can reach speeds of up to 1,000 kilometers per hour without the use of fossil fuels.

The state-owned firm has already commenced a research and development program for the trains, which will be able to operate in adverse weather conditions, domestic media reported at the third China International Aviation & Aerospace Summit held in Wuhan.

The super-high-speed train is a new-generation vehicle which combines supersonic flight and rail transportation technology, said Liu Shiquan, deputy general manager at CASIC.

China's civil passenger flight speed is about 900 kilometers per hour at present, CASIC said. Maximum speeds for super-high-speed trains can reach 4,000 kilometers an hour, 10 times faster than the traditional high-speed rail and five times faster than existing civil aircraft.

CASIC is reportedly the first company in the world to propose a supersonic ground transportation system. At present, there are three main firms globally that have confirmed research on a transportation system at the speeds higher than 1,000 kilometers per hour, CASIC and America's Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) and Hyperloop One.

HTT and Hyperloop One are researching and developing capsule trains (super-high-speed rail) at a maximum speed of 1,200 kilometers per hour.