The train that could get you from Sydney to Melbourne in less than two hours

Members of the public in Japan have for the first time experienced the country’s new maglev train, travelling at a top speed of 500 kilometres per hour.

For what would’ve surely passed in a flash, one hundred passengers travelled on the train, which ‘floats’ above its track using magnetic levitation, for 43 kilometres between the cities of Uenohara and Fuefuki.

According to the BBC, The Central Japan Railway Company is running eight days of testing for the experimental maglev bullet train on its test track in Yamanashi Prefecture.

The train, which ‘floats’ above its track using magnetic levitation, is significantly faster than Japan’s famous Shinkansen, which made their debut in 1964, and currently travel at around 320 km/h.

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Upon completion, not due until around 2027, the ‘hovering’ bullet train will be able to carry up to 1,000 passengers on 16 carriages and cut current travel times between Tokyo and Nagoya by more than half, from 90 to just 40 minutes.

By comparison, the recently unveiled Eurostar e320 train, which will begin operations next year, will travel at a top speed of 320 km/h, while Australia’s XPT train operates at a top speed of just 160 km/h.

Would you feel comfortable travelling on a train at 500 km/h?