Chengdu Aircraft Industrial (Group) Co., (CAIC) Thursday completed the world's first Maglev train designed to travel at speeds up to 500 kilometers per hour in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. It is the only high-capacity, energy-conserving and environmentally friendly ground transportation that can run at such a high speed.

CAIC begun research on the train in 2004, incorporating the lightweight designs and materials of airplanes to develop the train. Running at 400 kilometers an hour, it will use only half of the energy of a car and one-third that of a plane.

The train will be put into commercial use in Shanghai during the 2010 World Expo.