The Chiba Urban Monorail (千葉都市モノレール) is a two-line suspended monorail system located in Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is owned and operated by Chiba Urban Monorail Co., Ltd (千葉都市モノレール株式会社), a third-sector company established on March 20, 1979. Investors include the city of Chiba. The first segment (Line 2 from Sports Center Station to Chishirodai Station) opened on March 28, 1988, also the rest by March 24, 1999. PASMO and Suica contactless smart cards can be used to purchase fares. It is one of the only two systems in Japan that accepts only these cards and not other Mutual Usage IC cards. It is the world's longest suspended monorail system with a track length of 15.2 km.

Routes

Line 1

Line 1 connects Chiba-Minato Station and Kenchō-mae Station by a 3.2 km multiple-track route. Operating at 1,500 V DC, trains make four intermediate stops.

Station list

Line 2

Line 2 connects Chiba-Minato Station and Chishiro-dai Station. Operating at 1,500 V DC, trains make 13 intermediate stops on the 13.5 km multiple-track route.

Station list

Extension plans

Extensions of Line 1 had been proposed, notably a five-station, 3.4 km extension from Kenchō-mae Station to Chiba Municipal Aoba Hospital. However, in 2004 an evaluation committee found that there was no need for the extension, and proposed closing the underused segment from Chiba Station to Kencho-mae Station. There was also a plan to extend the line from Anagawa Station to Inage and Inage-kaigan Station. On 4 September 2019, Chiba City announced that it had decided to discontinue plans to extend the monorail hospital route, and not to introduce a monorail on the Inage route.

History

Special tickets