Ueno Zoo Monorail
The Ueno Zoo Monorail Line (東京都交通局上野懸垂線, Tōkyō-to Kōtsū-kyoku Ueno Kensui-sen) is a 0.3 km long suspended railway operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei). It lies within the Ueno Zoo in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. The monorail is similar to the Wuppertal Schwebebahn, but has rubber tires rather than steel wheels. Many of the parts manufactured for the monorail were off-the-shelf.[1] The first monorail in the nation (and the first zoo monorail in the world[2]), it has two stations, single track, and operates at 600 V DC. The line began operating on December 17, 1957, and except for a suspension during 2001–2002, has been in operation since. Being located inside the zoo, it only operates on days when the zoo is open, and between 9:40 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.; departures are scheduled every seven minutes. The fare for the 90-second trip is 150 yen.
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Overview | |
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Locale | Ueno Zoo |
Transit type | Suspended monorail |
Number of lines | 1 |
Number of stations | 2 |
Operation | |
Began operation | December 17, 1957 |
Operator(s) | Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation |
Number of vehicles | 1 |
Technical | |
System length | 0.3 km (0.19 mi) |
Service has been suspended since 31 October 2019, with the operator citing the high costs of replacing the aging trains.[3][4][5]

See also
References
- "Ueno Zoo". Retrieved 2007-03-30.
- "Philadelphia Zoo". Archived from the original on January 4, 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-30.
- "Fate of Japan's oldest monorail line up in the air". Japan Times. 24 January 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- NISHIMURA, NAOMI (24 January 2019). "Japan's oldest monorail in Ueno Zoo bound for suspension". The Asahi Shimbun.
- "「 上野動物園モノレール40形車両引退イベント』 開催" (in Japanese). railf.jp. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.