China’s hyperloop is fastest high-speed train in history

Using something called magnetic levitation, or maglev, technology, a train in China has been able to reach record speeds. Last year, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) ran a test in which the train reached 387 miles per hour. A recent test reached even faster speeds, though CASIC is not currently releasing the exact number. Before last year’s test, the record speed for a hyperloop train was 287 mph by engineers at the Technical University of Munich in 2019.

This maglev technology allows the train to levitate along a guideway through the use of magnetic forces, traveling through a vacuum tube which reduces its air resistance. In theory, with significantly less air resistance, hyperloop trains could reach around 760 miles per hour. As of 2021, there were just six maglev train systems in operation in the world (three in China, two in South Korea, and one in Japan), but none are hyperloops. They all travel in the open air.

The development of these maglev trains has become a race for many countries, and some thought that Elon Musk would be the one to get there first, but his transportation system company, Hyperloop One, shut down towards the end of 2023.