China's new Hyperloop expected to break world speed record

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Chinese scientists are planning an ultrafast rail transportation system of their own that would run at up to 1,500 km/h, faster than the Hyperloop track ready to be built by the HTT company in China.

Zhang Weihua and his team at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, said the high-tech tube transportation system they are planning to build is designed to carry commuters and cargo at ultrafast speeds, with the top speed expected to be reached in April 2021.

Since Elon Musk proposed the idea of Hyperloop in 2013, the competition on the research and development of ultrafast trains has long been fierce among the nations.

According to Zhang, the contest for speed is the major battlefield. This time, Zhang and his team are expected to break a world speed record.

A prototype was built to one-tenth the scale of the proposed train. /Photo via China Daily

Once the track is completed – in less than three years according to Zhang – all types of ultra-high-speed maglev transportation tests can be carried out, including those on high- and low-temperature superconductor maglevs, among which a high-temperature superconductor maglev train will be tested in Chengdu Province, southwest China.

Technologies for the Hyperloop system can be used in many industries, such as aerospace, railway transportation, new materials, next-generation engines and nuclear power generation, as well as in the military, said Sun Fuquan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development.

"It will not be easy for manufacturers worldwide to develop a transportation system with speeds of between 1,000 km/h and 1,500 km/h. They will need to team up with many companies and research and financial institutions from China and abroad. A large number of patents in related fields will be required."

[Cover Image: Deng Zigang, a professor from Southwest Jiaotong University, tests an ultra-high-speed high-temperature superconductor maglev. /Photo via China Daily]

Source(s): China Daily