--- title: "China Successfully Tests Hyperloop-Like Train Inside a Vacuum Tube" description: "China claims to have become the first to successfully carry out tests on a Hyperloop-style, magnetically levitated train inside a vacuum tube." date: "2022-10-20" modified: "2022-10-20" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-maglev-vactrain-hyperloop" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Hyperloop" - "Mass Transit" tags: - "china" - "hyperloop" - "maglev" - "the digest" --- # China Successfully Tests Hyperloop-Like Train Inside a Vacuum Tube ![China claims to have become the first to successfully carry out tests on a Hyperloop-style, magnetically levitated train inside a vacuum tube.]() *\Image: The Third Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp\* ## Vactrain China claims to have become the first country in the world to successfully carry out tests on a Hyperloop-style, magnetically levitated train inside a vacuum tube — or "vactrain" for short — according to a [report from ]()[state-run newspaper ]()[*China Daily*](). Researchers tested the train along a roughly 1.25-mile track in the province of Shanxi in northern China. During the test, it reached speeds of up to 80 mph inside a "low vacuum tube," according to the report. The team is only getting started. The goal is to eventually construct a full-scale, 37-mile test track and have trains reach speeds of up to 621 mph. The test could lay the groundwork for an entirely new kind of high-speed train system, not unlike the "Hyperloop," a design popularized by Elon Musk roughly a decade ago. ## World's First According to the researchers behind the test, it's the first successful demonstration of a maglev train of its kind traveling inside a low-vacuum tube. While maglevs are an established, albeit rare form of transportation — just this week, [Japan broke its own speed record]() by getting its maglev bullet train to travel at 374 mph — the concept of a vactrain has yet to be realized. ## Looped Perhaps the most famous vacuum tube-based train concept is Elon Musk's "Hyperloop," which he first proposed back in 2012. Despite plenty of optimism and [early testing](), we have yet to see a full-scale Hyperloop system being built, let alone put into use. Earlier this year, Musk claimed that [The Boring Company is going to finally attempt]() to build an underground Hyperloop "in the coming years," we remain skeptical of his [infamously ambitious timelines](). But given China's advances, the billionaire has clearly been beaten to the punch. **More advanced transport:** [*Scientists Propose Putting Giant Googly Eyes on Self-Driving Cars*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()