China Unveils 4,000 KM Per Mile “Flying” Hyperloop Competitor

Elon Musk’s Hyperloop continues to push forward towards it’s goal of dominating mass transit with a vacuum-sealed, mag lev train that can travel speeds up to 1,200 KM per hour. Now, China is throwing down the high-speed gauntlet with their own competing system and it looks like it could blow Musk’s Hyperloop out of the water.

It’s called the T-Flight, and China is calling it their “flying train.” In a direct smack in the face to Musk, they are also claiming that the T-Flight will travel at speeds of up to 4,000 km per hour. That’s almost 4x the speed of the Hyperloop and a mind boggling 2,485 miles per hour (mph).

the project is being spearheaded by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) and it could potentially link China’s major cities together in a way that could change the way people move throughout the country.

Much like Musk’s Hyperloop, the T-Flight is going to operate as a maglev train in a vacuum tube, but unlike the Hyperloop, this train will actually move faster than the speed of sound. Other claims that members of CASIC are making include the fact that it will be completely safe, workable in any weather, and will run on clean energy.

While this is an exciting idea, there are some experts that fear the human body would be unable to survive the acceleration needed to reach the nearly 2,500 MPH that the T-Flight will allegedly travel. It would essentially be the equivalent of making every passenger on the train a de-facto astronaut.

Source: Inhabitat