Maglev train. Magnetic levitation (Maglev) train seen on its elevated guideway on a test route in Emsland, Germany. The T-shaped guideway contains electromagnets which interact with magnets onboard the Maglev train. These magnetic interactions levitate the train to about 10mm off the guideway. The power supplied to the magnets in the guideway is then varied to create a travelling magnetic field along the guideway which pulls the train. This prototype system, known as transrapid, requires far less power than conventional trains. These trains can reache speeds of up to 400 km/h. The transrapid system also creates negligible noise and air pollution along its guideway.