A physics professor in Shanghai claims to have developed a magnetic train, which costs much less than its foreign counterparts.

Wei Lehan (66), a professor at Shanghai Normal University, says the Magnetic Array Suspension (MAS) system he developed is the first in China with independent intellectual property rights (IPR).

A model train, on show at the Sixth Shanghai International Industry Fair, attracted many professional visitors, the China Daily reported.

The train's technology is different from models used in Germany and Japan. The MAS train is powered by a combination of attraction and repulsion generated from permanent magnets both on the train and the tracks.

Compared with the luxury German Maglev train currently running in Shanghai, the train Wei has built with the help of two workers in five months looked shabby. It was poorly decorated and the control panel is very simple, the report said. The model, 3.75 metres long and 1.4 metres wide, can seat six people.

But building a MAS system would cost about 30 million yuan ($3.6 million) per kilometre, about a 10th of what the German technology would cost. It would also save considerable amount of land and energy, Wei was quoted as saying.