China Becomes the First Country in the World To Test a Hyperloop Train System

October 31, 2022

Researchers at the North University of China have successfully tested a Hyperloop train system that is very similar if not superior to Elon Musk’s much vaunted Hyperloop system that is still in developmental stages. This test makes China the first country in the world to successfully test the Hyperloop system.

Rendering of a Hyperloop Train System

Hyperloop is a futuristic high-speed transportation system popularized by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2012, whereby a capsule travels at incredible speed inside a low-vacuum tube. The technology, if it becomes mainstream will become the backbone of urban intercity and interstate transportation in many countries.

China’s Proposed Hyperloop Rail System

The system will be used for transporting people as well as commercial and even military applications. The travel capsule or pods use magnetic levitation (maglev) a technology already employed on Maglev trains in China and Japan, to deliver high-speed transport within a vacuum tube.

China has reportedly completed a full-scale and full-process integrated test of the system with pods achieving 80 mph. The test was done in a 1.25-mile testing line constructed in Shanxi province in Northern China.

Following the successful test, researchers will aim for the construction of a full-size 37-mile test track that will test trains at speeds of up to 621 mph. While China may have upended Musk’s by becoming the first to test the Hyperloop system, the Hyperloop concept is undoubtedly Musk’s Brainchild.

Furthermore, the idea of transporting things in a sealed tube is hardly a modern concept. However, the idea of turning this concept into a viable transportation system is where Musk revolutionized the idea and made it a reality. In addition to Musk Hyperloop and China’s nascent system, Virgin is also working on its own Hyperloop system for cargo applications.