Beijing, February 11:

China will develop its own magnetically levitated (maglev) trains that can travel at speeds of up to 500-km per hour. A 30-km-long test line will be built before 2010, said a ministry of science and technology report.

The maglev trains are listed in the ‘national scientific and technological support projects’ of the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010) that aims to “solve crucial science and technology problems that hamper China’s economic and social development”, said Wang Xiaofang, director of the ministry’s planning bureau.

China built a 30-km-long maglev link from Shanghai to the city’s main airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, in 2003 using German technology.

China has just released 15 of its new bullet trains into service to help deal with the crush of

passengers before and after the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day, which falls on February 18. The current such trains have a maximum speed of 200 kmph.