Man continues to challenge the speed of light (without succeeding): a train that will reach a speed of 800 km/h is soon coming from China.
The 800 KM/H fast TRAIN is coming: Berlin-Paris will take less than an hour
Not even a century has passed since reaching 100 km/h seemed like a truly incredible achievement and now we are talking about trains that defy the speed of light, despite the fact that this goal is still very far away. But China is raising the bar even more: a magnetic levitation train has been designed that will reach a speed of 800 km/h. When will it be available on the market and what are its characteristics?
# Berlin-Paris in less than an hour: the new super-fast train is arriving from China
The first prototype of a new Maglev – i.e. magnetic levitation – train was born from the collaboration between China Railway Group, CRCC and researchers from Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu. This revolutionary prototype would allow you to travel very long distances in a very short time, for example Berlin-Paris would take less than an hour. At the moment, the speed reached by the prototype is 620 km/h, but the market debut will take place in six years, which is the time needed to make the necessary improvements in order to reach a speed of 800 km/h.
The prototype was successfully tested on a 165-meter test track, and now the most ambitious goal of this new train is to travel from Beijing to Shanghai – a distance of 1,200 kilometers – in less than three hours.
# A matter of records: it is always China beating China
The world record for Maglev trains is already held by China and, in fact, the Shanghai Transrapid has reached 430 km/h since 2004. In the rest of the world, endless attempts are being made in order to reach increasingly higher speeds, but no one has yet broken the Chinese record. Japan has announced the expected debut of the Tokyo-Nagoya rail link in 2027, which will be covered at 500 km/h. Unfortunately, that’s the same year in which the new Chinese super-fast train is expected to be released on the market. So the Japanese train would exceed the current record for a short period of time, even if already now the Chinese Maglev would exceed the speed of the Japanese train with a stunning 620 km/h.
# The main secret of the new train? Liquid nitrogen
What are the secrets behind this amazing technology? According to the experts, there are two secrets: low weight thanks to the carbon fiber structure and, most importantly, the use of liquid nitrogen instead of liquid helium. Greater efficiency at a lower cost: not only does liquid nitrogen reduce resistance to almost zero – allowing the train cars to float over the tracks – but it also reduces costs. In fact, a researcher from Southwest Jiaotong University explained that “Liquid helium is very expensive. Using liquid nitrogen we obtain superconductivity at a slightly higher temperature (-196 ° C instead of -269 ° C, ed), and this reduces the cost to a fiftieth”. Still talking about prices, even the construction of the rail line itself would have lower costs. Engineer Wu Zili explained that, while prices for a normal Maglev line are around 250-300 million yuan per kilometer, this new technology would cut costs down to 200 million per kilometer (25.5 million euros).
This would be the price to see the fastest train in the world whizz around. For the time being, it would unite China, but in the future it could also connect entire continents.
ROSITA GIULIANO
