Shanghai Maglev - World's Fastest Train

The Maglev is quite a ride - 430kph, or 250 miles per hour ! Unfortunately it's only an 8 minute ride, but still the world's only maglev train on which you can buy a ticket. Connecting the subway system to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG), the short run is a technology demonstrator and validation platform. Next year it will be extended to the domestic airport on the other side of the city. See movies here.

The real goal is to run from Shanghai to Beijing, a 1300km (800 mile) trip, and to then have ultra-fast train service to major cities. China has a unique transportation problem given its size and population - it's the size of the U.S. with population density of Europe, so it needs European-like trains over U.S. distances because its population is so large that it cannot possibly build enough U.S.-style airports to move people around.

The maglev is impressive, with German car technology and the Chinese working hard on the construction processes and engineering, since they have to cross many soil and route types not found in Germany. In fact, if the San Francisco to Los Angeles maglev ever gets built, it will likely be with Chinese technology.