A prototype high-speed maglev test vehicle Photo: Courtesy of CRCC Qingdao Sifang Co

East China's Anhui Province said it will construct a high-speed maglev line that could allow passengers to travel from its provincial capital of Hefei city to Shanghai in 60 minutes, possibly running the country's 600-kilometer-per-hour (kmph) train. 

The province will seek approvals from the central government for plans of a high-speed maglev line inside the G60 Science and Innovation Corridor, aiming to kick-start the construction of a pilot section between Hefei, the provincial capital, and Wuhu city, over a distance of 150 kilometers, according to a transportation development blueprint issued by the province's economic planning agency and traffic authority which address development over the next five years.

Gradually, Anhui Province will push for the maglev to be deployed for the entire length of the corridor and realize a one hour journey within the corridor area, the statement said.

According to an October report by the paper.cn, the G60 corridor links nine eastern Chinese cities in the Yangtze Delta Region, with Hefei and Shanghai at each end of the corridor that roughly covers a distance of 480 km. Major industrial cities such as Suzhou and Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province lies in between. 

China is a global leader in maglev technology, having unveiled a 600 kmph maglev train prototype in 2019 and also developed medium-speed maglev trains. 

These trains are viewed by many as a means to fill a speed gap between civil aviation and the country's world-leading high-speed railway system, which runs at a current top speed of 350 km per hour.

A prototype high-speed maglev test vehicle with a speed of 600 km/h, developed by CRCC Qingdao Sifang Co, successfully ran on a test line at Tongji University in Shanghai in June last year.

At least two more maglev rail routes are also under plan to pioneer in China's research on the high-speed maglev train system, according to media reports in October.

They are the Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev also in the Yangtze Delta Region and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen maglev in South China's Guangdong Province.

In 2020, Anhui Province beat all other Chinese regions with the longest high-speed (above 200 kmph) railway mileage at 2,329 kilometers, according to data. 

Global Times