By David Emer

Imagine a train that floats 1 or 2 centimeters above the track and can go at amazing speeds. By 2003 there will be a 260 MPH, MagLev train that will go between the city of Pudong and Shanghai’s airport over a 20-mile line in 8 minutes. By car it takes 45 minutes to get between the airport and Pudong’s business district. This MagLev will be the first commercial MagLev train to ever go into service. The fare for the bullet train will be $6.

The train will be built by Transrapid, which is a partnership between two German companies, ThyssenKrupp and Siemens. Transrapid will supply the switching equipment and trains and China will build the track. China started building the track in early March. China paid $2 billion to Transrapid for the trains. Transrapid is ecstatic that they finally sold their 30-year-old technology. The German government also helped fund the project to get support together for a MagLev line in Germany. Germany planned to build a line between Hamburg and Berlin but panned the idea because of cost and environmental issues.

"The Shanghai project is of key importance, not only for the Chinese market but also for Transrapid installations worldwide," said Peter Wiegelmann, Transrapid's spokesman in Germany. "We believe that a go-ahead from the Chinese will give added stimulus to studies currently taking place, for example, in the USA."

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