List of monorail systems

A Monorail is a railway system in which the track consists of a single rail, typically elevated and with the trains suspended from it. The term is also used to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track. 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.

Operational monorails

Location	Country	Name	Year opened	Stations	System length
Gold Coast	Australia	Sea World Monorail System	1986	3	2 km (1.2 mi)
Lichtaart	Belgium	Bobbejaanland Monorail[1]	1961	3	1.85 km (1.15 mi)
São Paulo	Brazil	Line 15 (São Paulo Metro)	2014	2	2.9 km (1.8 mi)
Montreal	Canada	La Ronde (amusement park) Minirail	1967	2	2.1 km (1.3 mi)
Chongqing	China	Chongqing Monorail Line 2 & 3	2005	64	98 km (61 mi)[2]
Shanghai	China	Shanghai Maglev Train	2004	2	30.5 km (19.0 mi)
Shenzhen	China	Happy Line	1998	7	3.88 km (2.41 mi)
Shenzhen	China	Window of the World Theme Park Monorail	1993	3	1.7 km (1.1 mi)
Xi'an	China	Xi'an Monorail	2015	11	9.6 km (6.0 mi)
Helsinki	Finland	Linnanmäki Monorail (Maisemajuna)	1979	1	0.5 km (0.31 mi)
Wuppertal	Germany	Wuppertal Suspension Railway	1901	20	13.3 km (8.3 mi)
Dresden	Germany	Dresden Suspension Railway	1901	1	0.27 km (0.17 mi)
Dortmund	Germany	H-Bahn Monorail	1984	4	3.16 km (1.96 mi)
Düsseldorf	Germany	Düsseldorf SkyTrain Düsseldorf Airport	2002	4	2.5 km (1.6 mi)
Mumbai	India	Mumbai Monorail	2014	17	19.54 km (12.14 mi)
Listowel	Ireland	Lartigue Monorail	2003	1	0.3 km (0.19 mi)
Ravenna	Italy	Mirabilandia Monorail	1992	1	1.5 km (0.93 mi)
Chiba	Japan	Chiba Urban Monorail	1988	18	15.2 km (9.4 mi)
Urayasu	Japan	Disney Resort Line	2001	4	5 km (3.1 mi)
Kitakyushu	Japan	Kitakyushu Monorail	1985	13	8.8 km (5.5 mi)
Naha, Okinawa	Japan	Okinawa Monorail	2003	15	12.8 km (8.0 mi)
Osaka Prefecture	Japan	Osaka Monorail	1990	18	28 km (17 mi)
Aki-ku, Hiroshima	Japan	Skyrail Midorizaka Line	1998	3	1.3 km (0.81 mi)
Kanagawa Prefecture	Japan	Shonan Monorail	1970	8	6.6 km (4.1 mi)
Western Tokyo	Japan	Tama Toshi Monorail Line	1998	19	16 km (9.9 mi)
Taitō, Tokyo	Japan	Ueno Zoo Monorail	1958	2	0.3 km (0.19 mi)
Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Monorail	1964	11	17.8 km (11.1 mi)
Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur Monorail	2003	11	8.6 km (5.3 mi)
Mexico City	Mexico	Aerotrén	2007	2	3 km (1.9 mi)
Moscow	Russia	Moscow Monorail	2004	6	4.7 km (2.9 mi)
Singapore	Singapore	Sentosa Express	2007	4	2.1 km (1.3 mi)
Daegu	South Korea	Daegu Metro Line 3	2015	30	23.9 km (14.9 mi)
Zaragoza	Spain	Plaza Imperial Monorail[3]	2008	2	0.6 km (0.37 mi)
Chiang Mai Province	Thailand	Chiang Mai Zoo Monorail	2005	4	2 km (1.2 mi)
Ashgabat	Turkmenistan	Ashgabat Monorail	2016[4]	3	5.2 km (3.2 mi)
Dubai	UAE	Palm Jumeirah Monorail	2009	2	5.45 km (3.39 mi)
Chester	UK	Chester Zoo Monorail	1991	2	1.5 km (0.93 mi)
Anaheim, California	US	Disneyland Monorail System	1959	2	4 km (2.5 mi)
Jacksonville	US	Jacksonville Skyway	1989	8	4 km (2.5 mi)
Las Vegas Strip	US	Las Vegas Monorail	2004	7	6.3 km (3.9 mi)
Seattle	US	Seattle Center Monorail	1962	2	1.54 km (0.96 mi)
Bay Lake, Florida	US	Walt Disney World Monorail System	1971	6	23.66 km (14.70 mi)

This is a listing of monorails that are presently operating and open to the public. Only true monorails (vehicle wider than track) are included; see people mover for a list of monorail-like systems.

Other Monorails

Africa

Nigeria

There is a monorail under construction in Port Harcourt,^[5] Enugu,^[6] and Onitsha.^[7]

South Africa

• The Expo Centre in Nasrec, Johannesburg (located next to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer City) hosts a monorail^[8] that is operated during major events such as the Rand Easter Show
• Sun City casino resort, linking day visitor parking area to main complex.^[9]

Asia

China

• Castfast Hotel, Fenggang, Dongguan, Guangdong^[10]

India

• Chennai Monorail planned
• Kolkata Monorail in planning
• Coimbatore Monorail in planning
• Bangalore Monorail proposed
• Delhi Monorail proposed
• Kanpur Monorail proposed
• Indore Monorail proposed
• Aizawl Monorail proposed

Malaysia

• Kuala Lumpur Monorail
• Malacca Monorail

Taiwan

• A monorail in E-DA Theme Park in Dashu District, Kaohsiung

Thailand

• Dream World Theme Park in the northern side of Bangkok has a monorail attraction in Adventure Land.
• Pattaya Park Resort in Chon Buri province has an operating monorail transit.

Europe

• Germany has several monorail systems:
  • There are monorails in the Europa-Park, Heide Park and Phantasialand theme parks.
  • 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 Shanghai's International Airport.
• Netherlands: there is a monorail located at Drievliet amusement park in The Hague, the Slagharen amusement park, the Hellendoorn amusement park and one located at Ouwehands Zoo.
• United Kingdom: monorail systems operate at:
  • Alton Towers
  • Blackpool Pleasure Beach (relocated from 1964 Lausanne fair in Switzerland)^[11]
  • Flamingo Land theme park
  • National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Hampshire.
  • Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach

North America

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

Airports and shopping/medical centers

• Pearlridge Skycab, Pearlridge Center in Aiea, Hawaii, near Honolulu. Connects the Uptown part of the mall to the Downtown part of the mall. It is the only monorail system in Hawaii.
• Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey - AirTrain Newark connects terminals, parking lots, and Amtrak/NJ Transit Northeast Corridor rail station
• 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.

Amusement parks/exhibition areas

• Cal Expo, the home of the California Exposition in Sacramento, has a monorail that runs for more than a mile around their fairgrounds. It is only open during the California State Fair^[12]
• Zoo Miami, in Miami, Florida - Connects major exhibits at the zoo
• Hershey, Pennsylvania - amusement monorail at Hersheypark
• Lancaster, Pennsylvania - amusement monorail at Dutch Wonderland^[13]
• Ocean City, New Jersey - amusement monorail at Gillians Wonderland Pier
• Memphis, Tennessee - a short suspended monorail connects Mud Island in the Mississippi River to Memphis.
• Dallas Zoo in Dallas, Texas
• Bronx Zoo in Bronx, New York City to visit Wild Asia exhibit in the Bronx Zoo
• Jungle Jim's International Market monorail in Fairfield, Ohio brings riders from a remote parking lot to the Oscar Events Center; cars were originally used at nearby Kings Island.^[14]

Monorails under construction

Physical construction work has started on the following monorails:

Eurasia

• Kermanshah Monorail, Kermanshah, Iran. Opening 2016.^[15]
• Marconi Express, Bologna, Italy. Opening 2019.^[16]
• Qom Monorail, Qom, Iran. Project on hold (possible replacement with metro or light rail)^[17]
• Riyadh Monorail, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Will serve the King Abdullah Financial District. Opening 2015.
• Skybus Metro, Margao, Goa, India. Test track (1.6 km) built, construction of 10.5 km public track suspended.

Americas

• São Paulo Metro of São Paulo, Brazil has one monorail line under construction, after one opened in 2014:
  • Line 17, São Paulo, Brazil. Opening late 2015.

Africa

• Rivers Monorail, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Proposed monorails

Africa

• Fez, Morocco (Skybus)
• Lagos, Nigeria^[18]
• Johannesburg, South Africa^[19]
• Cape Town, South Africa^[19]
• Accra, Ghana
• Alexandria, Egypt
• Onitsha, Nigeria^[20]
• Aba, Nigeria^[21]
• Umuahia, Nigeria^[21]

Australia

• Brisbane Airport Monorail
• Melbourne Airport Monorail

North America

• Chicago - Navy Pier
• Sherbourne Conference Center Monorail, Saint Michael, Barbados^[22]
• Los Angeles - Las Vegas - Maglev^[23]
• Atlanta - Chattanooga - Maglev^[23]
• Washington - Baltimore - Maglev^[23]
• 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.
• Quebec province, Canada. Since many years plans for a high-speed transit system have been tabled. Since the cost for a new train would be too high and that it wouldn't be fit for the Québécois winters, the option for a monorail has been debated. In late 2012 TrensQuébec released two newsletters stating that they've found enough investors and supporting politicians to build a 5-kilometer test track.^[24]
• New York - Stony Brook University
• Pittsburgh International Airport - Pittsburgh - Greensburg, Pennsylvania - Maglev^[25]
• Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada
• Lubbock, Texas^[26]
• New York, New York. AirTrain LaGuardia is proposed link from LaGuardia Airport to the New York Subway.^[27]

South America

• Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. The Manaus Monorail was originally planned to be constructed by 2014. The project was delayed, and the contract is now cancelled.
• São Paulo, Brazil has a project (Line 17) to build a monorail that will connect Congonhas Airport to Morumbi and Jabaquara districts.^[28]
• São Paulo, Brazil has another project (Line 18) to build a monorail that will connect São Paulo to the neighbour ABC region.
• Buenos Aires, Argentina. Proposed.^[29]
• Vargas, Venezuela. Proposed. The system would be part of state of Vargas new governor's transportation plan. The project would connect 5 cities: Catia La Mar, Maiquetia, La Guaira, Macuto and Caraballeda. The Swiss corporation Intamil presented the proposal. The trains will ride around 80 km/h and will translate about 60.000 passenger per hour.
• Arequipa, Peru. Proposed.^[30]
• Niterói, Brazil. Had received the go-ahead from Dilma Rousseff and will connect Niterói, São Gonçalo, and Itaboraí, before the State considered implementing a heavy metro solution instead.^[31]

Asia

Bangladesh

• Dhaka Monorail, Dhaka, Bangladesh

China

• Wangjing Monorail, Beijing, China

Hong Kong

• Environmentally Friendly Linkage System, New Kowloon, Hong Kong
• West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong (cancelled)

India

• Ahmedabad Monorail, Ahmedabad
• Aizawl Monorail, Aizawl
• Allahabad Monorail, Allahabad
• Bangalore Monorail, Bangalore
• Chennai Monorail, Chennai
• Coimbatore Monorail, Coimbatore
• Delhi Monorail, New Delhi
• Indore Monorail, Indore
• Kanpur Monorail, Kanpur
• Kolkata Monorail, Kolkata
• Navi Mumbai Monorail, Navi Mumbai
• Patna Monorail, Patna
• Pune Monorail, Pune
• Ranchi Monorail, Ranchi
• Thiruvananthapuram Monorail, Thiruvananthapuram

Malaysia

• JB Monorail, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
• KL Monorail, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Malacca Monorail, Malacca, Malaysia
• Penang Monorail, Penang, Malaysia

Sri Lanka

• Colombo Mega Metro Monorail, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Thailand

• Monorail systems in Bangkok:
  • MRT Pink Line
  • MRT Yellow Line
  • MRT Brown Line
  • Grey Line
  • Light Blue Line
  • Chula-Siam Monorail

Vietnam

• Saigon Monorail, Vietnam - start in 2019

Europe

• Liverpool to Manchester Bher monorail, circa 1900^[32][33]
• Manchester Monorail, a 16-mile (26 km) SAFEGE-type monorail proposed in 1966 for Manchester, UK, to run across the city to Manchester Airport^[34][35]
• Preston Monorail, United Kingdom^[36]
• Uppsala, Sweden (this proposed monorail only carries 1-5 passengers, and needs no drivers).^[37]
• Liverpool Monorail, United Kingdom (to be create as part of the Liverpool Waters project with link to John Lennon Airport
• Thessaloniki Monorail, Greece, proposed monorail line that will start at Mikra Station and end at Makedonia International Airport. The plan is unlikely to be realised as an extension of the metro to the airport is preferred.
• MCH Skybus, Herning, Denmark - MCH's 2025 vision includes a monorail system between the exhibition centre and the town centre.^[38]

Decommissioned or Cancelled Monorails

Asia

Hong Kong

• Monorail in Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park, Hong Kong^[39][40]
• Monorail in Kai Tak Amusement Park, Hong Kong^[41]

India

• Kundala Valley Railway, Munnar, Kerala (1902–1908)
• Patiala State Monorail Trainways, Punjab (1910–1927)
• Skybus Metro, Margao, Goa (2004–2013)

Iran

• Tehran Monorail, Tehran. Project cancelled after completion of 3% of construction work.^[42]

Japan

• Himeji City Monorail Line, Himeji, Hyōgo, Japan (1966–1974)
• Odakyu Mukogaokayuen Monorail Line, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan (1966–2001)
• Monkey Park Monorail Line, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan (1962–2008)
• Nara Dreamland Monorail, Nara Dreamland, Japan (1961–2006)
• Yokohama Dreamland Monorail, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan (1966–1967)
• Nagoya City Higashiyama Park Monorail Line, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan (1964–1974)

Malaysia

• Sunway Monorail, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Served Sunway City, including Sunway Pyramid mall and Sunway Lagoon theme park and the surrounding. Decommissioned and partly dismantled to allow mall expansion. It being replaced by BRT Sunway Line.

Singapore

• Sentosa Monorail, Singapore (1982–2005). Replaced by the Sentosa Express monorail.
• Jurong BirdPark Panorail (1991-2012).

Thailand

• Fashion Island Monorail, Bangkok, Thailand. Short indoor amusement park monorail in Fashion Island shopping center. Decommissioned due to an accident which killed 2 riders.
• Tuk-Tuk Monorail, Bangkok. Half indoor-outdoor monorail tour operated between LeoLand amusement park and the water park. The track is still located in the 6th floor of Central City Bang Na.

Australia

• Sydney Monorail (also known as Metro Monorail), Sydney, Australia (closed on 30 June 2013)^[43]

• Brisbane, Queensland had a Von Roll Type II monorail 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 and some track was sold to Sea World, Gold Coast, in 1989 for expansion of its monorail system. The remainder of the sets and track were bought back by Von Roll.
• Oasis Shopping Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland which ran between the shopping centre and Conrad Jupiters Casino. The Von Roll Mark III monorail, owned by the Oasis Shopping Centre, consisted of two 4-carriage trains, only one of which was used for daily operations in the system's final days. Two spare carriages that were removed when the system switched from 5-carriage to 4-carriage trains were also kept with the two trains. Most components were original to the Oasis Monorail, but some were sourced from the UK Merry Hill Shopping Centre's former monorail that closed in 1993. As of July, 2017, most of the monorail system has already been removed (closed on 29 January 2017). ^[44]

Europe

• Milngavie, near Glasgow, had an experimental high-speed propellor-powered monorail, the Bennie Rail Plane, built during 1929-30 and abandoned during the Great Depression.
• Butlins Skegness Camp, 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. It was later rebuilt as a more conventional elevated rail system.
• Safari Skyway, Chessington, United Kingdom (1986–2015). Operated in Chessington World of Adventures.
• 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
• France has two abandoned test tracks for the Aérotrain, which can be considered monorails. One is between Limours and Gometz-la-Ville and the other between Saran and Artenay. France also had a suspended monorail the SAFEGE that featured in the film Fahrenheit 451.
• Russia had one suspended monorail built in 1899 at a leisure park. A horse-pulled monorail was already built in 1820 in Myachkove near Moscow.

North America

Canada

• Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia had a monorail that was moved to Alton Towers in the United Kingdom.
• The Minirail at Expo 67 in Montreal, which joined Pleasure Beach Blackpool in purchasing rail and rolling stock from the monorail system at the 1964 Lausanne exposition, along with new rail cars from the manufacturer.^[45][46]
• The Ontario Southern Railway operated one of the earliest North American monorails between the amusement park at Crystal Beach, Ontario and the main line railway station (1896–1898)
• Toronto Zoo Domain Ride, Toronto (1976–1994)

USA

• The Boynton Bicycle Railroad was a monorail on Long Island, New York, which ran on a single load-bearing rail at ground level with a wooden overhead stabilising rail engaged by a pair of horizontally opposed wheels.
• Busch Gardens Tampa Bay also had a monorail, the Veldt Monorail. It shut down in 1999 due to upkeep cost.
• Busch Gardens Williamsburg 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.
• Carowinds operated the Carowinds Monorail from 1973 through 1994.^[47]
• The Centennial Monorail was demonstrated at the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, which was held in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
• The Epsom Salts Monorail was "the fastest moving monorail in the world" when it was built from 1922 to 1924 by Thomas Wright, a florist from Los Angeles, who had discovered magnesium salts southwest of Death Valley.
• Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Michigan (outside of Detroit) had a shuttle monorail that connected to the Dearborn Hyatt Regency Hotel to the Fairlane shopping mall.
• Geauga Lake operated a monorail from 1969-2006, named the Bel-Aire Express
• Jetrail, a suspended monorail, was the world's first fully automated monorail system during operation at Dallas Love Field (1969–1974)
• The Trailblazer suspended monorail ran from October 1956 until 1964 at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. The single monorail car was used in Houston for a demonstration prior to its relocation to the State Fair of Texas.^[48]
• 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.
• State Fair of Oklahoma Monorail, Oklahoma City (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.
• The Philadelphia Zoo had a monorail in the 1970s and 1980s, but was discontinued in the 1990s.
• 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.
• Flushing Meadow Park New York, New York had a monorail during the 1964 New York World's Fair. It was a proof of concept with only one station. It was sponsored by American Machine and Foundry.
• Jungle Jim's International Grocery Store near Cincinnati, Ohio maintained a monorail circulator purchased from Kings Island Theme Park. However, plans are in motion to bring the monorail back online in the future to shuttle people from the grocery store's hotel to the store.
• Six Flags Magic Mountain operated a monorail since the park's opening in 1971 and shut down several years ago due to lack of parts.
• Fairplex operated a monorail built by the American Crane and Hoist company. The middle 90s saw a new station and new cars built by Arrow Dynamics. The new cars were far heavier than the original and caused it to last only a couple of years more until it was dismantled. Today, very little to no traces exist of it.
• Santa's Village in Skyforest had another American Crane and Hoist monorail that shut down when the park went defunct.
• The Hotchkiss Bicycle Railroad ran from Smithville to Mount Holly, New Jersey from 1892 to 1897
• The Minnesota Zoo operated a monorail around the grounds of its Apple Valley, Minnesota site from 1979 until 2013.^[49]
• The proposed monorail set to run from West Seattle to Ballard was struck down during the 2014 midterm elections on November 4, 2014. Citizen Proposition No. 1 had only amassed support from 19.6% of city voters.^[50]

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).

References

External links

• The Monorail Society
• Light Rail Transit Association fact sheet on Monorails