In the US, monorails are mostly relegated to amusement parks and airports, but in other parts of the world they are an integral part of the transit system (See Tokyo’s monorail with 100M riders per year). Why isn’t that the case in America, and is this something we should be investing more in in the future? Find out on today’s episode!
Let us know what you thought of this episode! Have you ridden any of the monorails mentioned? What do you think of our proposed expansion to the Las Vegas monorail system? Let us know!
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Links to Articles, People, and Organizations in this Episode:
Seattle Monorail Images from X: https://x.com/Justin_Martin23/status/1784686893667611117
Las Vegas Monorail Expansion Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1MLWrwuAme-Wi_mfAasZ5jOMVRjWYtmQ&usp=sharing
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction
01:24 – The World’s Earliest Monorails
07:39 – The History of the Disney Monorail
11:21 – Monorails at The World’s Fair
14:15 – Monorails In The US Today
17:42 – The Las Vegas Monorail (Expansion Proposal)
21:03 – Monorails in Japan
24:14 – What’s Your Experience? We Want To Know!
#monorail #vegas #vegasmonorail #japan #tokyomonorail #train #tokyo #brightline #cities #urbanism #america #publictransit #publictransportation #urbanmobility #podcast #transportation #brightlinewest #disneymonorail #transportationhistory
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What did you think of some of those original horse powered monorails?? Do you think there will ever be political will to fully build out the Vegas Monorail like we proposed?
Let us know!
Please consider doing a video on Radburn New Jersey
I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum, it put them on the map!
Recently there are monorail lines in São Paulo and Bangkok and Wuhu using the same tech as in Vegas, and the videos make the ride look bumpy. Maybe could be fixed by copying Japan and adding steel cladding to the monorail surface
The biggest user of imported japanese monorail tech is likely Chongqing, where monorails had an edge in navigating the harsh terrain.. until tunneling and steel rail traction improved so now the metro network there is mostly normal rail.
Seattle's monorail is a classic piece of the '60s! In the thumbnail, the left half is a POMA or Dopplmayer cable-driven people mover in Vegas, not the monorail nearby
14:26 the Detroit Metro Wayne apt people mover is cable driven and rides on air cushions, same as the Getty Museum shuttle in LA and recently the people mover at Cairo airport in Egypt. Forgot the manufacturer name. Seems this tech's one draw is how quietly it runs
I’ve barely started yet but I’m stoked to watch.
I live in Dortmund, Germany (pop. 612K) and study spatial planning at the university here. The university campus consists of two parts with a small valley between them. There's actually a suspended monorail (H-Bahn) connecting them with each other, but also to the nearby "Technologiepark" (a business park focused on science and technology) as well as the S-Bahn (commuter rail). The station "Universität-S" consists of the H-Bahn station above ground and the S-Bahn in a tunnel. There are stairs and elevators to connect them with each other, but of course also to the ground level.
There are currently about 2 miles of track with 5 stations, but there's an expansion planned, which would add about 1.5 miles of tracks and 2 stations with a direct transfer to the Stadtbahn (light rail).
The Düsseldorf airport actually uses the same system, but with two tracks, whereas in Dortmund there's only one. Both systems are also only about 43 miles (by car) apart. Wuppertal is also only 30 miles away from here, but I've never used it, since I've only been to the city once to get to know the university campus
Thought I'd add some important context about Japan's main monorails (yes there's more than one), and why building a brand new one in the US is a bad idea.
The Main Tokyo Monorail, providing a local/express service between Haneda Airport and Hamamatsucho is a great gimmick for tourists but is actually not that great of a service. It doesn't go all the way to Tokyo station, headways are not as great as a regular rail line and connections (often with luggage) are annoying given the monorail stations are built high up in the air. In fact, JR is building a new railway line to Haneda airport which will offer direct services to most Tokyo destinations, rendering the monorail line somewhat obsolete.
The Chiba Monorail provides a ton of great local service in Chiba. Building a cut-and-cover subway through a pre-existing dense and old street network was deemed infeasible, so a monorail following the street grid was deemed the next best option. An urban long-distance monorail only makes sense in places like Chiba where land is very limited. (see also the Wuppertal Schwebebahn…). Las Vegas does NOT have this problem.
There are around 5 more monorails in Japan but they're mostly run as shuttle services and people movers (There's also one at Disney Japan for example). What Las Vegas really needs is a bog-standard metro under Las Vegas Boulevard all the way from the the Brightline station and the airport to Downtown. The current Las Vegas monorail is a gadgetbahn with a terrible alignment that's only useful for shuttling tourists around the resorts, extending it would be expensive and makes very little sense in my opinion. RM Transit has a great video on the subject.
Love the talk about monorails but you seem to be confusing guided people movers with monorails. I know people like to call the Yurikamome (2:10, 16:18, 21:28) a monorail but it's a Crystalmover APM. 16:27 is not a monorail either. Plus, Japan has never had automation in its monorails, which is only found in guideway people movers.
Japan never adopted the monorail to bring people into the city, as that would require heavy rail capacity in most cases. Almost all of Japan's monorails are made to connect suburbs to other suburbs, ensuring a vital circumferential link between neighborhoods.
23:58 I think you're talking about Scomi Rail (Malaysian) that has exported its monorails to Brazil. Malaysia has not looked at Japanese monorails since the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, and Panama is the only one with a Hitachi monorail system at the moment in Latin/Lusophone America.
12:25 large-scale World Expos (fairs) are still happening every five years, just not in North America! The next one will be in Osaka in 2025.
Since I see monorails fairly often in my city, I didn't realize it was such a niche technology until recently! Thanks for the video.
Used the LV monorail while attending a convention. Extremely useful! The big downside was having to make long U-shaped detours into and out of casinos to get to stations.
I really would love for you guys to make a video on the Cross Valley Corridor and the California High Speed Rail.