25 injured as German magnetic train derails

Police said 25 people were injured when a high-speed magnetic train went off the track during a test in the town of Lathen in western Germany.

Police spokesman Helge Nestler said the Transrapid magnetic train came off the tracks at around 10.05am (9.05am Irish time).

“The magnetic levitation train is hanging halfway off the track,” Nestler said, and passengers were still inside.

Magnetic-levitation trains use electrically-charged magnets to cause the trains to hover just above the tracks, allowing them to glide along without friction. Trains can reach 270 mph on the 20-mile test track.

A fire broke out in an electrical storage compartment aboard Shanghai’s magnetic-levitation train as it was headed toward the city’s international airport August 11, generating large amounts of smoke but causing no deaths or injuries.

The Shanghai system is the world’s only commercially operating maglev train.