Chiba Monorail

In video I am taking Chiba monorail from Chiba railway station.


Video: look from front window

I will explain more about this monorail with information from their homepage. There are 4 wagons in monorail train and one can hold up to 79 persons (42 sitting and 37 standing). Self-weight of wagon is 21 tons. Supplied electricity – 1500 volts. This train can achieve velocity up to 65 km/h and acceleration speed is 3.5 km/h per second. To give you an idea how fast it is – it will reach velocity of 50 km/h in about 15 seconds (compare with standard 20 ton trolleybus acceleration to 50 km/h – about 30 seconds). They also have equipped with emergency chutes (similar to those in airplanes) for extraordinary situations so that passengers can slide down safely.

Chiba monorail website claims that it is longest suspended monorail system in the world with total length 15.2 km. There are two lines, which goes out from Chiba station. At the beginning of video – I am taking line No 2, which has total length of 12km and then line No 1 – 3.2 km.

Here is Chiba monorail homepage. They are also working on the new design of this train. I also hope they will extend this line to keep world record - for example, it would be nice to take monorail to some nice beach...

Map
This is that big junction, just after leaving Chiba station. Here lines split.

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