Posts Tagged ‘Monorail’

The Osaka monorail holds the Guinness Book of Records award for the world’s longest monorail with a track spanning 21.2km. The elevated train runs between Osaka International Airport and Kadoma-shi Station and also has an offshoot to Saiito-nishi . Opening between Senri-Chuo and Minami-Ibaraki in 1990 the monorail track has had several extensions over the last 18 years. The entire trip takes about 36 minutes and stops at 14 stations. As with most of Japan’s public transport system the cost is fairly reasonable the entire trip only costs a little over Y500 which is about $5, but fares start as low as Y200 and kids can use the system at half price. The monorail can get quiet busy with over 70,000 people riding on it every day. Each monorail has 4 carriages and is made by Hitachi and uses 1500 volts of power to glide along the concrete track.

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Well we thought being Christmas Week we should feature stories on the happiest place (or places) on earth- Yes Disneyland’s around the world. Our first story celebrates new monorails at the Anaheim Disneyland. We were reading on one of our favorite blogs that the monorails at Disneyland are getting a huge overhaul. As the photograph shows they are going to look pretty flash, word is they will have fancy blue glass and red strips which change colours in sunlight- a bit like one of those hypercolour t-shirts I suppose. The cabins take on a real futuristic retro look which should look great zooming around the Disneyland park. It looks like the first passengers will be able to ride on these sleek machines around February, so there’s not much time to wait. There should be plenty of new fun at the park during 2008 with a huge multi million dollar upgrade underway at both Disneyland and the Californian Adventure which will both see new attractions and fun for all over the next few years.

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Well unlike Ogdenville, North Haverbrook, and Brockway Sydney didn’t quite need a monorail to put it on the map but they have one anyway and it is a great way to get around the city. The Sydney monorail first opened in 1988 as a way of getting people to the city’s new playground Darling Harbor. Today it is an important form of transport moving thousands around the city every day. The monorail links many of Sydney’s entertainment complexes including Paddy’s Market, China Town, Darling Harbor, The Exhibition and Convention Centres, Aquarium and IMAX with the downtown shopping and business district of the city. For a few small dollars you can loop the city gliding high above the traffic and pedestrian flow for a great view of Sydney.

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