New ‘floating’ train set to travel faster than the speed of sound revealed
Who needs a plane when you have a floating train?
China's new 'floating' train is so quick that the need for air travel might be a thing of the past.
No more long flights, airport queues or plane sickness.
Now it'll just be train delays, platform queues and train sickness that you'll have to worry about.
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This comes after a group of very talented Chinese engineers who have showed off their engineering masterpiece called 'T-Flight', which will topple Japan's MLX01 Maglev, the current fastest train in the world.
While the MLX01 Maglev is capable of reaching a top speed of 361mph, the new T-Flight has reportedly reached a new record speed on their test-track.
The test itself was run by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), which is an aerospace company that makes rockets, missiles and spacecraft.
387mph was the reported speed, which is nearly 30mph faster than the MLX01 Maglev.
The reason why it's called a 'floating' train is because the train is levitated along a guideway through the use of magnetic forces, called maglev technology.
To help increase speeds even further, the train travels through a vacuum tube that reduces the vehicle's air resistance.
Now, for 'domestic intra-city commuting', CASIC has plans to make the train reach speeds of 1,243mph, which is faster than the speed of sound - which is just over 700mph.
At that speed, it was also make the train more than twice the speed of a Boeing 737 plane.
Mao Kai, technical director of the T-Flight train system project with the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, previously said in 2017: "In the first phase, we'll realise the speed of 1,000 kilometres per hour (621mph) for domestic intra-city commuting; the next phase will see speeds of up to 2,000 kilometres per hour (1,243mph) for domestic intra-region traveling to link up economic zones of Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Wuhan.
"The third phase will realise the speed of 4,000 kilometres per hour (2,485mph).
"In the future, a flight train network covering countries along the Belt and Road region will be formed to support the Belt and Road Initiative.”
Back in 2022, it was thought that Elon Musk's hyperloop trains would become the quickest form of travel.
However, at the end of last year, Hyperloop One officially closed down.
The company sold its assets and closed its offices at the end of 2023. Opening the door for the T-Flight train!
Topics: Travel, World News, Technology
Anish Vij