超級高鐵(chāojí gāotiě): Super high-speed trains

At the World Transport Convention 2018 held in Beijing on Tuesday, chief professor of Southwest Jiaotong University Zhang Weihua told the media that China is exploring super high-speed trains that can travel at 1,500 kilometers per hour.

High-speed magnetic suspension rail transport is the development direction for railway technology, according to Zhang. And the super high-speed rail test line in Chengdu uses high-temperature superconductivity magnetic suspension plus vacuum valve technology. China aims to reach speeds of up to 1,500 km/h by 2021.

According to Zhang, the scale model train test line under construction in Chengdu is expected to come into operation by the end of this year.

By the end of 2017, the operating mileage of China's high-speed railway had reached 25,000 kilometers, accounting for two-thirds of the global high-speed railway network. The highest design speed of China's high-speed railways is 380 km/h.

The national research program of high-speed railway with a per hour speed of 400 km/h and above commenced in November 2016.