China will build a low-speed magnetic levitation train trial line while starting to establish the country's first magnetic levitation track in Shanghai.

The 425-meter trial line, located at Qingshan Township near Chengdu of southwest China's Sichuan Province, has received an investment of 50 million yuan and will be used for experiments and also opened to visitors. Construction of the line is expected to start on April 10, 2001.

The Changchun Railway Rolling Stock Factory, based in the capital of northeast China's Jilin province, will make a 24-seat magnetic train for the trial line, which will be 12 meters long, 2. 6 meters wide, 3.3 meter high and weighing 18 tons.

The 33-kilometer magnetic levitation rail in Shanghai, designed to link the city's Pudong International Airport with the Longyang Road subway station, will use technology imported from Germany.

With a speed of 430 kilometers per hour, the magnetic levitation train will be one of the fastest trains in the world.