Forget about wheels: Tube ramps up speed
China is building a high-tech tube transportation system to test methods of carrying commuters and cargo at "ultrafast" speeds by scrapping the wheels and using magnetic levitation, a scientist said on Tuesday.
Similar to Elon Musk's hyperloop maglev model, the system will initially be tested at speeds of up to 1,500 km per hour, according to Zhang Weihua, a professor at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, Sichuan province, who spoke during a forum at the 2018 World Transport Convention in Beijing.
It will run inside a virtually air-free tube to reduce resistance. Once it has been completed - in less than three years, Zhang said - all kinds of ultrahigh-speed maglev transportation tests can be carried out, such as high-and low-temperature superconducting maglevs.
