Wu Guanghui, a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, and chief designer of the C919 homegrown passenger jet, suggested speeding up the research into maglev trains at a panel discussion of the Shanghai delegation during the Second Session of the 13th NPC on March 12.

Wu, Vice President of the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, a state-owned and Shanghai-based aircraft manufacturer, said the upper limit of high-speed trains is 400km/h.

"If trains from Beijing to Shanghai can reach a speed of 500km/h, air travel will lose its competitiveness," he said.

Wu's comments attracted attention since it seemed ironic for an airplane designer to raise suggestions regarding the building of trains.

As a matter of fact, Wu has paid attention to maglev train research for a long time, in spite of his research specialty in aircraft. Wu, 59, holds a PhD in aircraft design from Beihang University and was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2017.