NEWS//China's maglev trains fly

Very few Americans have traveled over 350 miles per hour on land. But perhaps within 5-10 years, Chinese who board China's new maglev train could travel at 373 mph. That speed will make this maglev train the fastest land-based transportation vehicle in the world. Currently, the fastest trains in China top out at 217 miles per hour.

State-owned China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) in the city of Qingdao in eastern China, produces the train. It is designed to travel with two to ten cars. Each car will hold over 100 passengers. The trains optimum range is cities that are 1000 miles apart. CRRC claimed that the new train will shave two hours off the 740 mile trip between Beijing and Shanghai.

"Maglev" is an abbreviation of "magnetic levitation." The cars of a maglev train don’t contact the rails below them. They levitate slightly above them. Electromagnetic forces both propel the train and eliminate friction.

Sources: South China Morning Post, Forbes, UPI.com, YAHOO! News, CNN, China.org.cn