Technology
PUBLISHED
An experimental maglev train car in China just tore through its old record by accelerating from zero to 800 kilometers (497 miles) per hour in only 5.3 seconds. That’s approaching the cruising speed of a commercial airplane and is theoretically fast enough to cross the US from New York to Los Angeles in around 5 hours.
The record-breaking trial took place along a 1-kilometer (0.62-mile) test track at the East Lake High-Speed Railway Laboratory in China’s Hubei province, according to Chinese state media.
The record was broken in late 2025, but the story has only just been picked up outside China. It’s reportedly the third time since the start of 2025 that the East Lake High-Speed Railway Laboratory has broken a world record on this test track. One of those records can be seen in the video player below.
The lab in Hubei has previously said it hopes to build Maglev trains that travel at speeds of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) per hour. Judging by its current rate of progress, it’s well on its way to achieving that.
Much like other incarnations of maglev technology, the ultra-high-speed train system uses magnetic levitation to gently float the train above the tracks and eliminate friction, allowing for a smoother and faster journey.
The track is also lined with electromagnets that can switch their poles at the whim of electrical currents. The poles just ahead of the train are set to attract the front of the carriage, but the moment it passes, the current flips, making the poles just behind repulsive.
That combination – pulled from the front, pushed from behind – seamlessly moves the train forward in a continuous "wave." By controlling the speed of the electromagnetic pole switching, it's possible to manage the speed of the train's propulsion – faster switches, faster propulsion, and vice versa.
One Chinese article on the recent breakthrough puts it like this: “What truly propelled the high-speed rail model car forward was an invisible ‘giant hand’ – electromagnetic propulsion! Changing the direction of the current causes the magnetic poles to flip, thus changing the direction of the force.”
As of 2026, there were just six maglev train systems in operation across the world: three in China, two in South Korea, and one in Japan.
China is famed for its extensive high-speed rail network, but some of the new technology won’t necessarily be applied to shipping commuters across the country at eye-watering speeds.
Maglev technology like this could instead be applied to a range of other applications, such as for military purposes and aerospace launches.
Instead of using dirty fuel-burning rockets, for instance, electromagnetic propulsion could theoretically send spacecraft into space and satellites into orbit with minimal pollution.
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