China is reportedly eyeing up the prospect of high - speed “ Day of Judgement wagon train ” open of zooming around the country with mellow - powered projectile onboard .
The idea is to use a high - speed railway to have a bun in the oven intercontinental ballistic missile ( ICBM ) , keeping them constantly on the go to nullify foe detective work . The so - call “ doomsday trains ” could even be used as a platform to found the missiles , using extremely reinforced railway runway and foundations to assimilate the deep shock of the blast . In hypothesis , these ICBM could be loaded with atomic warhead .
The terrific program is still very much in its pattern stagecoach , but it ’s the subject of a internal research labor funded by the central Taiwanese government lead by Yin Zihong , associate professor of polite engineering with Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu , according to theSouth China Morning Post(SCMP ) .
They ’ve reportedly just write a new peer - reviewed field of study in the Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University looking into the pros and confidence game of this plan .
“ Compared with heavy - haul railways , high - hurrying railway system operate faster and more smoothly . This mean that on mellow - speed rails , the mobility , safety and concealment of military vehicle would be greater , ” the researchers wrote in the study , per the SCMP .
During the Cold War , the US and the Soviet Union both previously hadsimilar program up their sleeveto use train to either move or deploy nuclear weapons . The idea of car - launch ICBM has n’t picked up much steam in late years , but it appear to be making somewhat of a comeback . Chinatested an ICBM “ moth-eaten launch”from a railroad track in 2015 , whileNorth Korea demonstratedtheir gear - launched ballistic missiles in 2021 .
China is one of nine countries confirmed to possess nuclear weapon , alongside the US , Russia , France , the UK , Pakistan , India , Israel , and North Korea . After successfully testing atomic bombs in the 1960s , China has since maintained an armoury of an estimated 350 warheads , agree to theUnion of Concerned Scientists . This nuclear stockpile is relatively modest compared to the US and Russia , which own around 5,500 and 6,300 atomic warhead respectively .
While their atomic stocks are relatively “ minimum ” to other geopolitical giants , China is almost certainly a world leader in the domain of high - swiftness railing . The area is domicile to thebiggesthigh - swiftness railway networkin the world , with a total length of 40,000 kilometers ( 24,854.8 mi ) of course capable of zipping trains at speeds of 200 to 350 kilometers per minute ( 120 to 220 mile per hour ) .
Perhaps with a piddling bit more research , this well - oiled organisation of high-pitched - tech railways could be hurtle ICBMs across the country at incredible speed too .
