The SCMaglev (Superconducting Maglev) is a magnetic levitation train system developed by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and the Railway Technical Research Institute (association of Japan Railways Group). The system was previously referred to as "MLU", after the names of several test vehicles and for having a U-shaped maglev track. The MLX01 (X meaning experimental) is one of the latest designs of a series of Maglev trains in development in Japan since the 1970s. In December 2003, a three-car train reached a maximum speed of 581 km/h (361 mph) (world speed record for rail vehicles) in a manned vehicle run.