Posted on June 14, 2019
Today is the anniversary of the public opening of the first monorail system that works on a daily basis in the Western Hemisphere. It occurred on June 14, 1959.
You may be wondering which forward-thinking government decided to build a monorail way back in 1959 - but it wasn't a government. It was Walt Disney!
Walt Disney is famous for SO many things: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and bunches of other animated characters; full-length, full-color animated films; Disneyland and other Disney theme parks. Disney liked to create a kind of magic, using his imagination to tug at our own imaginative powers.
But Disney was also big-time into the future. The original theme park, Anaheim's Disneyland in California, featured Tomorrowland. There was a Rocket to the Moon (and this was waaaayyyy before astronauts really did go to the moon!), and the first 360-degree film, and a Space station to give visitors a "satellite view" of Earth (and this was even before Sputnik was launched into space!). By 1959, there were several modern ways to move around, like Autopia, the Submarine ride, and the monorail.
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The monorail system at Disney World in Orlando, Florida,
is the largest in the world. |
A monorail is a sort of train with just one rail (mono- means one, of course). Many monorail systems have elevated tracks, and the trains hang from the single rail; others feature trains that balance on the single rail below.
In the U.S., there aren't a lot of non-Disney places where there are monorails. Las Vegas, Nevada, has monorails, and Seattle, Washington, has a monorail that links the center of the city to the Seattle Center (home of the Space Needle and several museums and cultural experiences).
But that's about it!
However, some countries in the world are building monorails: Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Japan, India, Japan, Russia, Japan, and Europe. Oh, and did I mention Japan? Japan is king as far as monorail technology and use.
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| Japan |
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| Australia |
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| Malaysia |
Here are some things that make monorail systems a good choice for some locations:
Because they can be elevated, monorail systems can be built in places where there might not be room for traditional two-rail tracks. (Monorails can also be used in subway tunnels.)
Basically, a monorail uses less speed than most railways.
With just one rail, train cars can use modern tilting technology to execute high-speed turns.
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| Taken from within a Japanese monorail train. |
With their electric engines and ability to skip interactions with ground-based transports, monorails can be more eco-friendly, swifter, and quieter than many other forms of transportation.
Monorails need less power than most two-rail trains.
Monorails have a reputation for safety and reliability.
Some systems today use magnetic levitation, which will probably dominate the future; there are no contact-friction losses, which will increase speed capabilities.
