China indicates interest in buying maglev train

Beijing - China on Wednesday signalled its interest in acquiring the technology for a German-developed magnetic-levitation, or maglev, train.

"We would greet the sale of the magnetic train technology from the German developers to Chinese firms," said the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning agency.

It added that it hoped China could win the technology at an "attractive price."

However, the German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp, which developed the Transrapid system with Siemens, rebutted speculation that it might sell the propulsion technology or a license to China after high costs last month killed a maglev track that had been planned between downtown Munich and its airport.

China is home to the only Transrapid track in commercial service. The track runs between downtown Shanghai and the city's airport.

Xie Weida, deputy director of the Railway Institute at Shanghai's Tongji University, who was involved in the development of the Shanghai line, warned that the cost of such know-how would be extremely expensive but would allow China to produce maglev trains itself and market them internationally.

An expansion of the Shanghai line is planned, but it has been put on hold because of protests by residents. Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng recently ruled out a completion of the expansion by the Shanghai-hosted World Expo 2010 as originally planned.