It is an impressive experience to participate in a high-speed run at the world’s largest test site for magnetic levitation vehicles. After taking a bend in its guideway – or track – at 260kmph, a train at the site in Lathen, near Germany’s North Sea coast, rapidly but smoothly accelerates the 200 visitors on board to a top speed of 424kmph, despite lashing wind and rain. The train then brakes equally rapidly and smoothly to take a further, tighter bend.

Advocates of magnetic levitation – known as maglev – say its superior speed and acceleration, together with its physics – trains mostly float frictionlessly above the track – should make it the most attractive option for any country considering a high-speed transport network. The joint venture of Germany’s Siemens and ThyssenKrupp that developed the Lathen site with IABG, a German research company, would like to sell the system – which they market as Transrapid – internationally.