Informed but opinionated commentary and analysis on urban transportation topics from the Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal. Names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

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More on Japanese Gadgetbahen (Monorails)

From the Cabalmaster:

( Cabalmaster's pardon please: HTML is still a new language to me...)

(A mysterious transit supporter)... wrote, in part (on a mailing list kept quiet):

"The track logistical requirements of relatively large rapid transit systems probably represent a major impediment to the development of monorail systems. I suspect that, while there are now a sizable number of such systems in Japan, Asia, etc., each one is relatively small, even the new-start systems (Osaka, Naha, Kitakyushu, Kuala Lumpur, etc.). They seem mostly to fulfill a "connector" or supplementary role in highly specialized niches where total grade separation is deemed essential, and extensions and the addition of complex branches are not envisioned. What I would like to obtain would be something like a tabulation of total fleets (trainsets? vehicles?) of these systems, and even better, total number of switches. I strongly suspect they skimp on switches to hold costs down."

NumberMan's reply:

(xxxx) et al.,

Jozu desu! You've managed to summarize the applications where the Japanese build monorails.

(I've never been to "KL" (Kuala Lumpur), but I would guess that the monorail corridor resembles the "typical" Japanese application: full grade separation required, but not enough traffic to justify a conventional "full-scale" rail line.)

Non-enthusiast articles emphasize -- in English as well as Japanese -- that monorails are not suitable for "networks."

And you're also quite right: most Japanese monorails are quite small:

Chiba: 9.4 mi.
Kitakyushu: 5.5 mi.
Inuyama: 0.7 mi (single-track as I recall).
Naha: 8.0 mi.
Osaka: 14.8 miles.
Tokyo-Haneda: 10.5 mi.
Tokyo-Shonan: 4.1 mi., single-track.
Tokyo-Tama: 9.9 mi.
Tokyo-Ueno Park: 0.2 mi., single-track.

The Osaka line has a short branch, and the Chiba system has two "lines." Even so, I've come across no evidence in the Japanese literature that anyone is planning a monorail "network."

(Most Japanese subway lines are "stand-alone" operations, each with its own fleet, depot and so forth, with no inter-working with other subways. There is, however, extensive initer-working between subways and connecting rail lines.)

Of the nine monorail operators above, only two -- Chiba and Naha -- may be described as serving as "primary trunk" urban transport facilities.

The primary trunk mode in Kitakyushu is JR-Kyushu rail services. Light rail plays a secondary role, in a corridor which has no other rail service. The monorail was built to serve the "other" corridor where traffic was high enough to justify some form of fixed-guideway transit -- but not high enough to justify a full-scale elevated or underground rail line.

The Osaka and Tama lines are suburban "peripheral" lines built in or alongside roads and highways.

The Haneda line is by law an "airport access railway," and despite other development along the line would not exist without its airport traffic.

The Shonan line is a combination suburban branch / demonstration line for Safege technology. The Ueno and Inuyama lines are little more than amusement-park rides, although both serve useful transportation purposes. (The Nagoya Railroad must find that Inuyama monorail handy during the New Year period and other times when the Narita-san temple attracts throngs of visitors.)

You've also managed to catch me far away from most of my references.

I do have the most recent Japanese railway rolling-stock fleet list here (California) with me, and I'll post total-fleet information shortly.

I'll try to obtain track (beam?) diagrams for the various Japanese monorails, but this may take a while. Given the short length of most of these lines, intermediate crossovers may have been omitted as unnecessary.

I will also try to find out how emergency evacuation and mechanical failures (e.g. train stalled in between stations) are handled, but this may also take a while." The track logistical requirements of relatively large rapid transit systems probably represent a major impediment to the development of monorail systems. I suspect that, while there are now a sizable number of such systems in Japan, Asia, etc., each one is relatively small, even the new-start systems (Osaka, Naha, Kitakyushu, Kuala Lumpur, etc.). They seem mostly to fulfill a "connector" or supplementary role in highly specialized niches where total grade separation is deemed essential, and extensions and the addition of complex branches are not envisioned. What I would like to obtain would be something like a tabulation of total fleets (trainsets? vehicles?) of these systems, and even better, total number of switches. I strongly suspect they skimp on switches to hold costs down."

NumberMan


posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 8/01/2002 05:10:00 PM