(The following article was published by the Associated Press.)
BEIJING — A Chinese real-estate company on Wednesday agreed to pay US$2.5 million to name the world’s first commercial magnetic levitation train for its first two years of operation.
Shanghai Xinhu Real Estate Developing Co., Ltd., won an auction for the naming rights, said Tu Yingqun, a spokesman for Shanghai Maglev Transportation Development Co., Ltd.
The company hasn’t decided what the name will be, but it probably will include Xinhu, Tu said. The company will also be allowed to advertise inside the train for two years.
Tu also said seats on the train will be reserved for the company.
The US$1.2 billion train, built with German technology, connects the 3-year-old Shanghai Pudong International Airport to the city’s financial district. It has no wheels and is suspended a few millimeters (a fraction of an inch) above its track by powerful magnets.
The train is supposed to start carrying regular passengers late this year.
It reached speeds of 260 mph (420 kph) during an inaugural run on Dec. 31, with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder aboard.
Eleven Chinese and foreign companies, including German carmaker Volkswagen, bid in the auction, Tu said. The minimum bid was 8 million yuan (US$963,800).