By Farai D Hove| ANALYSIS| President Emmerson Mnangagwa will come face to face with the reality of a bullet train that covers 1,000 km in just one hour. This translates to a little over 20 minutes from Harare to Bulawayo.

President Mnangagwa will be in China for investment opportunities where he will see more than just that, that train is in fact a near supersonic train (speed of sound). READ MORE

China has started testing the prototype of the advanced maglev train that would achieve near supersonic speeds inside a vacuum-based track, reports IBTimes.

Researchers at Southwest Jiaotong University have developed the country’s first-ever high-temperature superconducting loop wherein a miniaturized version of the so-called ‘super maglev’ is being tested.

Deng Zigang, the lead engineer involved in the project, told state broadcaster China Central Television that the ultra-fast train would bring maglev’s magnetic levitation capabilities inside the vacuum to tackle wheel and air friction, and cruise faster than commercial planes.

The idea is pretty much similar to hyperloop transit system which was first proposed by Elon Musk in 2013 and is currently being developed and improved by Virgin Hyperloop One and other American start-ups.

Jiaotong University’s prototype loop is about 45-meters long and can levitate the train an inch above the ground. The track has the smallest cross-section and also uses lesser magnets and materials than the tracks running conventional maglev trains around 400 kmph in China.

Initially, the prototype train — which can carry 300 to 1,000 kg of load — will run at speeds around 0-50kmph, but Zigang hopes to touch the 400kmph mark by the end of this year, ultimately moving toward the goal of 1,000 kmph. This would essentially mean going from New York to Washington, D.C. in about 20 minutes.

Currently, the fastest train in the world is Japan’s SC Maglev which surpassed the 600 kmph mark in April 2015. Hyperloop pods, on the other hand, are also envisioned to travel at supersonic speeds but they are still at a nascent stage in development.