Technicians are busy examining a new magnetic levitation train prototype in a factory in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan Province.

Zhuzhou, a city known as a forerunner of China's rail transit manufacturing industry, is fostering innovation and production of maglev trains.

"We have been pursuing independent research of maglev technology and manufacturing maglev trains with our own intellectual property rights," said Zhou Qinghe, president of CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co. Ltd. (ZLCL), a rail transit equipment maker and a subsidiary of China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. (CRRC).

Shanghai saw China's first commercial maglev system, a 30-km stretch between the downtown area and the city's Pudong airport, which was put into operation in 2003. But the system was based on German maglev technology.

Fully supported by its own technology, China's first medium-and-low speed maglev line with a design speed of 100 kph started operation in May 2016 in Changsha, Hunan Province.

As of the end of August, the Changsha maglev line had an operation mileage of 3.07 million km and has transported more than 10 million passengers.

According to Tong Laisheng, head of the maglev research institute of the CRRC ZLCL, they have been aiming for new breakthroughs and more advanced versions of commercial maglev trains.

The 2.0 version of the maglev, with a design speed of 160 kph, is being tested and a more advanced driverless maglev train with a top speed of 200 kph is being developed, Tong said.

"The driverless version can climb to the height of a four-story building in 100 meters, just like a roller coaster. It will be equipped with a communication-based train control system that combines big-data analysis, realizing real-time diagnosis of trains, maglev tracks and power supply," Tong said.

Liu Youmei, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said China has mastered the key and core technology for commercial maglev trains and established a system with intellectual property rights, ranging from research, manufacturing, test verification to commercial operation.

China has seen a rapid development of rail transit in recent years with its fast urbanization progress.

Statistics from the China Association of Metros showed that a total of 37 cities on the Chinese mainland had rail transit systems in operation as of June 30, with a total length of 6,126.82 km.

China's urban rail transit has not only achieved rapid growth in scale but also achieved high-quality development, said Xie Zhengguang, president of the association.

Tong is confident about the prospects of maglev trains as they offer an alternative to traditional rail and subway systems, which have their own advantages in urban transit.