First there was the bullet train. Now China is exploring a possible high-speed “missile train” that can whizz part of its nuclear arsenal around the country and make it more difficult to track and destroy.
The research into a so-called doomsday train is a signal that the country is exploring new strategies for war as it modernises its military. The study says that a rail-based launch is harder to detect because the weapons are constantly on the move and any enemy damage to rails by enemy strikes can be quickly repaired,
A rail-based launch is mobile and harder to detect, and China reportedly conducted a mobile test of a DF-41 from the railway in 2015. However, there is no confirmed report that China has built a rail-based launch platform.
China’s extensive network of fast-speed rails provides “favourable conditions” to launch missiles from the tracks, the team said. It operates 150,000 kilometres of rail, the second longest in the world, including at least 40,000 kilometres of fast-speed rails, which are longer than any other country.
Beijing has increased its nuclear capability in recent years. Satellite images show that it has built a new silo complex encompassing an area of about 800 sq km (308 sq miles) in the desert near the city of Hami in the east part of the far western region of Xinjiang.
The findings on the missile train were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University.
