article_snippet.sent: Maglev was first proposed as a method to propel trains as far back as the mid 20th century.
article_snippet.sent: The first commercial maglev train to come into operation was a relatively low-speed shuttle at Birmingham International Airport in 1984.
article_snippet.sent: This was not until the turn of the century, though, that high-speed maglev would come into commercial operation, mostly in Japan and China.
article_snippet.sent: China was the first country to have a commercially-operated Maglev service.
article_snippet.sent: The Shanghai Maglev opened to the public in January 2004, and has a top commercial operational speed of 268mph due to the short track length.
article_snippet.sent: The Shanghai Maglev cost $1.3billion (£830million) to build.