Transrapid: The levitating train Adjust font size: BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Following are some facts about the Transrapid high-tech train that crashed on a test run in Germany on Friday: The Transrapid rides on magnetic levitation at speeds of up to 420 km/h (260 mph) on its 32-km (20 mile) long test track in Emsland, a remote area of Germany near the Dutch border. It long held the record as the world's fastest train, hitting 450 km/h (280 mph) in a 1993 test. Traveling at three times the speeds of conventional steel-wheel trains, the "mag-lev" Transrapid floats on a magnetic cushion one cm (half an inch) above a track that is elevated five to eight meters above the ground.
The Transrapid uses a tongue-and-groove construction that keeps the 110-tonne vehicle from leaving the track. Powerful electromagnets in the bracket-shaped undercarriage wrap around the sides of the guide way and hold the train in place. The prototypes have logged hundreds of thousands of kilometers in trials on the track near Lathen. Because there are no wheels and no friction on the track, the train uses 33 percent less energy than Germany's high speed ICE trains. Hundreds of thousands of tourists have paid to take rides on the train since such service began in 1995. Attempts to build a commercial "mag-lev" line in Germany have repeatedly been blocked by environmentalists and other opponents, leaving projects on drawing boards. There are proposals to build a Transrapid from Munich's airport to the city center and a decision is due in the fall. Another plan to link Hamburg and Berlin was scrapped. China was the first country in the world to get the high-speed train. It takes less than eight minutes to travel the 30 km (19 mile) between Shanghai and its airport at a top speed of 430 km/h (267 mph), making it the world's fastest commercial train. An experimental Japanese mag-lev train set the current speed record of 581 km/h (361 mph) on a test track near Tokyo in 2003. On August 11, a fire broke out in an electrical compartment of the Shanghai mag-lev train as it headed towards the airport. It caused a lot of smoke but no one was injured. It has been developed over the years by Siemens and Thyssen. National airline Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn have also worked on the project. Reuters contributed to this report. Next story in World World A German-made Transrapid train at Shanghai airport. RELATED
Location of Lathen, Germany
Twenty-three people died when a Transrapid maglev train travelling on the system's test track in Lathen in Germany, near the Netherlands border, collided with a maintenance vehicle on the track. Ten others were severely injured according to Karl-Heinz Brüggemann, a spokesman for the rescue effort.

The driverless train was estimated as operating at 170 km/h (105 mph) when the accident occurred around 09:30 local time (07:30 UTC). The unmanned train, with 31 passengers aboard crashed into a maintenance wagon containing 2 workers.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the site to pay her respect to the victims and the rescuers.
File photo of a Transrapid train on its test track
The train had traveled about 1 km (0.6 miles) from its departure station when it struck the maintenance vehicle.  Debris from the accident was spread over a 300 m (984 ft) section of track. Police spokesman Hans Kley confirmed that the Transrapid train did not leave the track, which is elevated approximately 5 metres (16 ft) above the ground. Other reports indicate that the train's roof was torn off in the collision. Rescue workers used ladder trucks from local fire departments to evacuate the stopped train. On hearing of the accident, Germany's Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee suspended his trip in China and made preparations to return to Germany to view the accident scene.

The 31.8 km (20 mile) test system in Germany was built by a consortium of Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp.  It has been in operation since 1984 and is regularly used by tour groups for demonstration runs four days per week. Transrapid trains are capable of speeds up to 450 km/h (280 mph).  This accident is the first on the system that included fatalities; analysts so far attribute the cause of the accident to a lack of communications between the train operators and the maintenance employees. The only commercial installation of Transrapid technology in service is currently the Shanghai Maglev Train linking Shanghai Metro Line 2's Longyang Road station to Pudong International Airport.