Patents for magnetic levitation (maglev) based transport technology can be traced back as far as 1905, but despite over a century in the public imagination, the technology remains largely spurned on account of its extraordinary costs. Through the years, services have run in the UK and Germany, and test tracks have cropped up in several locations, but today there are only three countries still running commercial services. In Japan, the Linimo serves nine stations over a 5.5 mile (8.9km) line through Aichi prefecture. In South Korea, the Incheon Airpot Maglev links the country’s largest airport to Yongyu Station, where travellers can transfer to the Seoul Subway. In China, the Shanghai Transrapid runs 30.5km out of Shanghai Pudong International Airport. It is the world’s fastest, achieving speeds of up to 268mph (430kph).

…