Vacuum and ultra-high-speed tests
Headlines about 600, 700 and 800 km/h maglevs in China come from short test tracks and light test vehicles. They are real engineering results, but they are not trains. Here is what has been tested, and what it means.
Superconducting maglev in a low-vacuum tube
The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) announced its T-Flight program in 2017. Between April 2022 and November 2023, a 2 km low-vacuum test tube was built in Yanggao County near Datong, Shanxi Province.
The vehicle uses superconducting maglev inside the tube. CASIC claims 623 km/h from early 2024, a record for superconducting maglev, and later tests at speeds it has not disclosed. The long-term target is 1,000 km/h. A next phase of about 60 km has been mentioned but not confirmed.
800 km/h in 5.3 seconds
The record vehicle weighs about one tonne and is not built to carry passengers.
The Donghu (East Lake) Laboratory in Hubei Province operates a 1 km test line with permanent-magnet levitation and electromagnetic propulsion. A test vehicle of about 1.1 tonnes reached 650 km/h in about 7 seconds in June 2025 and stopped within about 220 m. It then reached 700 km/h, and later 800 km/h in 5.3 seconds. Sources disagree on when the 800 km/h run took place: it was publicized in August 2026, while one report dates it to November 2025.
700 km/h in under two seconds
In December 2025, the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha accelerated a superconducting electrodynamic test vehicle of about one tonne to 700 km/h in under two seconds on a 400 m track.
Test platforms at a glance
- CASIC T-Flight
- 2 km low-vacuum tube, Datong; 623 km/h claimed (2024); target 1,000 km/h
- Donghu Laboratory
- 1 km open test line, Hubei; 800 km/h with a 1.1 t vehicle
- NUDT
- 400 m test track, Changsha; 700 km/h with a one-tonne vehicle (December 2025)
- Passenger service
- None planned on these platforms
Most results are reported by Chinese state media and have not been independently verified.
What these records mean
These platforms are closer to electromagnetic launch research than to railways. A light sled on a track of a few hundred meters can show what magnets, power electronics and brakes are capable of. It does not show how a heavy passenger train behaves over hours, in curves, in wind or in tunnels, nor what a route would cost.
For comparison: the SCMaglev record of 603 km/h was set by a full passenger train on a 42.8 km line.