SHANGHAI, China — China signed a deal with a German consortium on Tuesday to build the world's first commercial train to float on magnetic fields.
The 20-mile-long line to Shanghai's new airport would carry 600 passengers at up to 260 mph and would be an advertisement for the city's high-tech ambitions, said Chinese officials and Transrapid, a consortium comprised of engineering giants Siemens and ThyssenKrupp.
"The 'maglev' train will act as a model to display the high-tech achievements of Shanghai," said Shanghai Deputy Mayor Chen Liangyu.
The contract is a triumph for the German developers of magnetic levitation, or maglev, technology, who want a working model after spending decades and billions of dollars on the idea.
Maglev uses powerful magnets to hold a train a fraction of an inch from the track and propel it with little noise or vibration. Japan has developed a competing version of maglev, and last April a Japanese test train set a speed record of 343 mph.
China is to build the track for the Shanghai system while Transrapid supplies the trains and switching equipment. The train is to start running in 2003.
Though neither side would disclose the cost, the German portion should be less than $950 million, said Hans-Dieter Bott, vice president of Siemens.
Ernst H. Behrens, president of Siemens' Chinese subsidiary, denied reports that Germany was financing most of the project. The German government said on Monday that it will provide $92.5 million, while news reports had said Berlin was offering financing worth up to $450 million.
The maglev technology has its critics, who say it is a costly, energy-guzzling technology that is no better than proven high-speed rail systems such as France's TGV. French rail tests have reached 310 mph.
Germany canceled a planned Berlin-Hamburg maglev line last February for fear it would lose money and harm wildlife with its powerful magnets.
Bott said Transrapid views the Shanghai line, where the ride will last just eight minutes, largely as a sales tool.
"This serves as a demonstration for China to show that this works and can be used for longer distances, such as Shanghai to Beijing," he said.