The world’s first commercial magnetic-levitation train was unveiled to the Chinese public recently as Shanghai’s newest prestige project, a German-built high-speed airport shuttle that uses the world’s most advanced rail technology. As this article reports, riding the “maglev” feels like “flying without wings”–only at 400 km/h do any vibrations become noticeable. The train holds its top speed of 430 km/h for just a few seconds before beginning to slow down. The 7-1/2-minute trip takes half an hour by highway.
While massive construction and upkeep costs raise doubts whether the maglev shuttle will ever make money, that may be beside the point. The builders are just happy to have a working version to show potential customers elsewhere in the world, such as Los Angeles and the busy Boston-Philadelphia corridor. And Shanghai is happy to have a showpiece project to bolster its ambitions to become a world-class financial and business center.