List of monorail systems

Monorail systems have been built in many countries around the world, many of them on elevated tracks through crowded areas that would otherwise require the construction of expensive underground lines or have the disadvantages of surface lines.

[edit] Operational monorails

This is a listing of monorails that are presently in operation.

[edit] Asia

[edit] China

• Chongqing Metro line 2
• Shanghai Maglev Train in Shanghai, China - Completed in 2004, the Shanghai Maglev Train is the first commercial monorail based on the German Transrapid maglev-monorail and runs for 30 km between Pudong International Airport and the Shanghai Lujiazui financial district. Designed for speeds up to 500 km/h (310 mph), its regular service speed is in the region of 430 km/h (267 mph) and is currently the fastest commercial railway system in the world.
• Shanghai also has a unique indoor monorail in a store. It is 14 metres (46 ft) in length and operates as a kind of elevator across six floors.
• Happy Line, Shenzhen.
• Window of the World Monorail, at the Window of the World amusement park.

[edit] Japan

Tama Toshi Monorail Line, Tokyo, Japan

Main article: Monorails in Japan

Japan has employed monorails in many cities, including:

• Chiba Urban Monorail (Townliner) in Chiba, a satellite city of Tokyo
• Disney Resort Line
• Kitakyūshū Monorail in Kokura, north Kyūshū
• Meitetsu Monkey Park Monorail Line which links the Monkey Park in Inuyama, Aichi to the nearest railway station
• Okinawa Monorail (Yui Rail) in Naha, Okinawa
• Osaka Monorail
• Shōnan Monorail in Kanagawa Prefecture, in the southern outskirts of Tokyo
• Skyrail Midorizaka Line, a commuter line in a residential development suburb of Hiroshima
• Tama Toshi Monorail Line in and around Tama, west Tokyo
• Tokyo Monorail is the world's busiest and most commercially successful monorail line, carrying around 100 million passengers yearly.
• Ueno Zoo Monorail which links the two sectors of the the zoo in Ueno park, again in Tokyo

[edit] Malaysia

Main article: Monorails in Malaysia

• Kuala Lumpur Monorail - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Sunway City Monorail - Sunway City, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia - It serves the Sunway city including Sunway Pyramid mall and Sunway Lagoon theme park and the surrounding. It is linked to KTM Komuter Station.
• Genting Monorail - linking the Genting Outdoor Theme Park with the indoor one in First World Plaza.

[edit] Singapore

• Jurong BirdPark Panorail. Three-station Von Roll monorail in Jurong BirdPark.
• Sentosa Express. Four-station Hitachi "Small" monorail.

[edit] South Korea

• Lotte World, two station amusement park monorail.
• Taedok Science Town Monorail, site of the Taejŏn Expo '93.

[edit] Thailand

• Bangkok Monorail, Bangkok, short monorail from a shopping center to an amusement park.
• Chiang Mai Zoo Monorail, Chiang Mai Zoo.

[edit] Turkey

• Istanbul ^[1]

[edit] Europe

The Moscow monorail

Von Roll monorail at Alton Towers, UK, originally built for Expo 86 in Canada

• Belgium: There are monorails in the Plopsaland, Bellewaerde and Bobbejaanland theme parks.
• Finland has a monorail in the Linnanmaki amusement park.
• Germany has a suspended monorail in Wuppertal, the Schwebebahn Wuppertal, dating back to 1901.

Dresden's Schwebebahn uses a similar system.

There are monorails in the Europa-Park, Heide Park and Phantasialand theme parks.

There is a smaller type of suspended Monorail (H-Bahn, "Hängebahn" or "hanging railway") at the campus of the university of Dortmund. This system is also used for the Düsseldorf SkyTrain, which operates at Düsseldorf International Airport.

There is also the experimental Transrapid Maglev ("magnetic levitation") railway system built in Emsland. This prototype was subsequently developed by a German consortium into the world's first commercial Maglev railway: the Shanghai Maglev Train which runs from the Longyang Road station on the Shanghai Metro to to Shanghai's International Airport.

• Ireland: Listowel was the site of the world's first commercial monorail, named the Lartigue system after Charles Lartigue who constructed this railway in 1888. A straddle-type monorail on a triangular beam, it was perhaps the only passenger monorail to also regularly carry freight and cattle. An historical recreation now exists and carries passengers as an entertainment.
• Italy: Ravenna Amusement Park in Savio, 2 stations, 2 km.
• Netherlands: there is a monorail located at the Slagharen amusement park and one located at Ouwehands Zoo.
• Russia: the Moscow Monorail Transit System opened in 2004 has 6 stations, 4.7 km.
• Poland: a monorail is planned for the city of Kraków, with a grand opening ceremony in 2010. It will connect airport, downtown and Show place.
• United Kingdom: monorail systems at Chester Zoo - Alton Towers - Blackpool Pleasure Beach - Flamingolandtheme parks. National Motor Museum Beaulieu in Hampshire.

[edit] North America

The Walt Disney World Monorail System.

Inside of the Seattle Center Monorail, located in Seattle, WA.

Monorails can be found in the following places in North America:

• Disneyland Monorail System, Disneyland, Anaheim, California - Known as the "First daily operating Monorail system in the Western Hemisphere"
• Niles Monorail in Fremont, California. This fully-operational, homebuilt, backyard monorail was constructed by monorail enthusiast, Kim Pedersen
• Walt Disney World Monorail System, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida - Serves over fifty million passengers yearly
• Miami MetroZoo, in Miami, Florida - Connects major exhibits at the zoo
• JTA Skyway, in Jacksonville, Florida - Connects the main JTA bus terminal to the convention center and other downtown destinations, as well as a Park and ride garage
• Pearlridge Center in Aiea, HI, near Honolulu. The monorail is named "Skycab," and connects the Uptown part of the mall to the Downtown part of the mall. It is the only monorail system in Hawaii.
• Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, Minnesota
• Las Vegas Monorail, Las Vegas, Nevada - public transit
• Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey - AirTrain Newark connects terminals, parking lots, and Amtrak/NJ Transit Northeast Corridor rail station
• Hershey, Pennsylvania - amusement monorail at Hersheypark
• Lancaster, Pennsylvania - amusement monorail at Dutch Wonderland [1]
• Memphis, Tennessee - a short monorail connects Mud Island in the Mississippi River to Memphis.
• Dallas, Texas - Amusement ride at Dallas Zoo
• Seattle, Washington - short monorail (Seattle Center Monorail) built for the Century 21 Exposition in 1962
• Six Flags La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec - once part of a larger monorail systems built for Expo 67
• Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Florida - installed in 1991 for transportation between the parking garage and different Airsides. It was the first monorail in that cars are completely computer operated.
• Bronx Zoo in Bronx, New York City to visit Wild Asia exhibit in the Bronx Zoo
• California State Fair monorail in Sacramento, California on the fairgrounds at CalExpo

[edit] South America

• Poços de Caldas, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais have a monorail since 1990. It has not been successful as a mass transit system, and nowadays is mostly used as a tourist attraction. It extends for 6 km, comprising 11 stations. There is a second monorail in the city of Poços de Caldas that is now decommissioned due to a failure in the track. The train sits on display at the station in the city center.

[edit] Australia

Sydney Monorail

• Sydney, Australia has the Sydney Monorail originally designed as public transport but has found more use as a tourist attraction.
• The Gold Coast, Queensland has two monorails:
  • A 2 km monorail around the Sea World Theme Park which was the first monorail in Australia.
  • A link between Conrad Jupiters Casino and the nearby Oasis Shopping Centre in Broadbeach.

[edit] Decommissioned monorails

[edit] Asia

Patiala State Monorail System at National Rail Museum, New Delhi

• Nara Dreamland Monorail, Nara Dreamland
• Patiala State Monorail Trainways, Punjab, India (1910 to 1927)
• Sentosa Monorail, Singapore (1982-2005). Replaced by the Sentosa Express monorail.

[edit] Australia

• Brisbane, Queensland once had a Von Roll Type II monorail, which was built for World Expo '88. Four sets, consisting of nine carriages each, operated in a continuous loop throughout the Expo site. A single train set was sold to Sea World, Gold Coast, for expansion of its monorail system. It is unknown where the other sets and track were relocated to.

[edit] Europe

• Butlins Skegness, United Kingdom (1964-2003) — the first commercial monorail in the UK

• Birmingham Airport had a magnetic levitation train which had to be closed down due it becoming life expired and a lack of spare parts.

• Merry Hill Shopping Centre, Brierley Hill, West Midlands had a Von Roll Mk III Series monorail which opened in June 1991 but only worked for a short while before finally being sold off in 1996. The rolling stock now operates in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. Reasons for the closure of this system include a combination of technical problems and safety concerns (especially the difficulty of evacuation), exacerbated by a dispute between the owners of Merry Hill and The Waterfront which at this time were owned separately.
• Seville Expo '92

[edit] North America

• Busch Gardens Africa also had a monorail, the Veldt Monorail. It shut down in 1999 due to upkeep cost.
• Busch Gardens Europe had a monorail, Eagle One, that connected the theme park with the nearby Anheuser-Busch brewery. Park visitors could tour the brewery and return via monorail. The setup lost money; the tours were discontinued and Eagle One dismantled in the 1990s.
• Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia had a monorail that was moved to Alton Towers in the United Kingdom.
• Kings Dominion near Richmond, Virginia had a monorail as the conveyance for visitors to its Lion Country Safari attraction, which was removed after the 1993 season.
• Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (1964-2005)
• The Pelham Park and City Island Railroad in the Bronx, New York, New York operated a short-lived monorail system in 1910. It ceased operation after an accident.^{[citation needed]}
• The Philadelphia Zoo had a monorail in the 1970's and 1980's, but was discontinued in the 1990's.
• Toronto Zoo Domain Ride, Toronto (1976-1994)
• Miami Seaquarium Spacerail, Miami Seaquarium (1963-1991)
• The Wgasa Bush Line at the San Diego Wild Animal Park near Escondido, California was shut down in March 2007. It was a five mile (eight km) long, one hour tour around the large area devoted to animal environments.

[edit] South America

• Brazil had a monorail in Rio de Janeiro that linked the large Barra Shopping mall to its parking lot. After its destruction, only one part of the track and the platform still remain in the parking lot (second floor, behind the Fnac dome).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Monorails under construction

Physical construction work has started on the following monorails:

• - Jakarta Monorail, Jakarta, Indonesia. Construction suspended.
• - Palm Jumeirah Monorail, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Expected to begin revenue operations in April 2009.^[2]
• - Calabar Monorail, Nigeria [2]
• - Putrajaya Monorail, Malaysia. Construction suspended.

[edit] Proposed monorails

[edit] Africa

• Lagos, Nigeria ^[3]
• - Johannesburg, South Africa ^[4]
• - Cape Town, South Africa ^[5]

[edit] Americas

• - Sherbourne Conference Center Monorail, Christ Church, Barbados^[6]
• - A 10-30 km (6-19 miles) monorail through the tourist district of Niagara Falls, Ontario is planned to replace the existing bus-based Niagara Parks Commission peoplemover system. The line will connect hotels and the road-based transportation network in the area to attractions such as Clifton Hill, Lundy's Lane, Casino Niagara, Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, the Skylon Tower, Maid of the Mist and the falls itself.
• - Managua, Nicaragua
• Los Angeles - Las Vegas - Maglev ^[7]
• Atlanta - Nashville - Maglev^[7]
• Washington - Baltimore - Maglev^[7]
• - As part of the DestiNY USA project in Syracuse, a monorail from Syracuse University to Syracuse Hancock International Airport via downtown and the DestiNY complexes is planned.
• New York - Stony Brook University
• Pittsburgh International Airport - Pittsburgh - Greensburg, Pennsylvania - Maglev^[8]
• Florida - Tampa-Orlando - Proposed, currently suspended. Unified monorail system to link major Florida cities and suburbs. Extensive networks are planned in Tampa, and possibly Orlando, for the purposes of intra-metro transport.

[edit] Asia

• - West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong, linking the WKCD with Tsim Sha Tsui
• - Delhi Monorail, India
• - Bangalore Monorail, India
• - Mumbai Monorail,India planned and to be operational by June 2009
• - Madagaon Sky Bus, Goa, India
• - Jalandar Currently awaiting approval.
• - Ludhiana Likely not to be a monorail, but still with a chance, is awaiting Indian Government Approval.
• - Amritsar Connecting the Raja Sansi International Airport to the Golden Temple,was approved in September, 2007 and is designed to cut pollution and possibly connect other important links in city.
• - Chandigarh Monorail, currently awaiting final designs and approvals.
• - Tehran Monorail in Tehran is in final stages of planning. The project to construct the monorail lines that would extend across the capital is predicted to be completed within three years, however the first phase of the project is to be inaugurated in 2009.

^[9]

• - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, four new lines in addition to the current one: Petaling Jaya monorail, Subang Jaya monorail, Sungei Buloh monorail and Cheras monorail.
• - Malacca Monorail, Malacca, Malaysia
• - Penang Monorail, Malaysia
• - JB Monorail in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

• - Lahore, Pakistan
• - Karachi, Pakistan
• - Islamabad, Pakistan
• - Mecca Monorail, Mecca
• - Daegu, South Korea
• - Istanbul Monorail^[10]

[edit] Europe

• - Preston Monorail^[11]
• Poland: a monorail is planned for the city of Kraków, with a grand opening ceremony in 2010. It will connect airport, downtown and Show place.

[edit] Oceania

• - Geelong-Melbourne-Frankston, Australia Recently proposed to combat the rapidly growing population around Port Philip Bay. The proposal will feature a monorail linking the regional city of Geelong to Melbourne and on to the south-east suburb of Frankston while passing through Avalon Airport and Tullamarine. Travel time between Geelong and Melbourne will be around 20 mins.
• - Brisbane, Australia
• - Wellington, New Zealand [3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• [4]http://www.themerryhillcentre.co.uk/monorail.html
• [5] Light Rail Transit Association fact sheet on Monorails.
• [6] Everything2.com page with information about the Merry Hill Monorail submitted by local people.
• [7] The 'Monorails in Australia' page of The Monorail Society.
• [8] Birmingham (UK) International Airport information about the former Maglev and its replacement.
• [9] The Monorail Society