Guangzhou is mulling the use of maglev trains to connect the city with other first-tier cities like Shenzhen and Shanghai.

According to a transportation plan for 2023-2035 released by the General Office of the Guangzhou Municipal Government recently, the city is planning maglev rail routes to Beijing and Shanghai and the construction of experimental sections.

The Shanghai-Guangzhou maglev will pass through Shantou, Shanwei, and Shenzhen. If completed, the trip between Shanghai and Guangzhou will take less than three hours. The Beijing-Guangzhou maglev, which will pass through Shaoguan, will cut the travel time between Beijing and Guangzhou to 3.3 hours.

Earlier in November 2019, the Shenzhen Municipal Development and Reform Commission released a bidding notice for research on maglev-related issues such as the current state of maglev technologies, the role of a Guangzhou-Shenzhen line, passenger flow estimates, route designs, investment estimates, and operation costs.

According to earlier reports, maglev trains will be put into use on the second high-speed railway between Shenzhen and Guangzhou. If the 600-kilometer-per-hour maglev rail is built, it will double the speed of the current Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail and cut the travel time between the two cities to 20 minutes.