Monorails of Japan

Mukogaoka  Opened 1965  1.1 km 2 stations This is one of the more unusual monorails in existence. It is the sole remaining operational monorail developed in the sixties with the cooperation of the Kawasaki Aircraft of Japan and Lockheed Aircraft Corporation of California. Invented by Lockheed, the Nihon-Lockheed Monorail Company first built a test track at Gifu, Japan. Although it appears similar to an Alweg monorail, the beam actually has three steel rails that support and guide the trains. The Mukogaoka line runs between a rail station and an amusement park. The trains runs back and forth down a narrow corridor above a city street crowded with vehicles and businesses. Another Nihon-Lockheed line still stands in the city of Himeji, although it hasn't operated since the seventies. At one point, this type of monorail was considered for both the Seattle and Tokyo-Haneda monorails.

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