Amanohashidate Monorail
I recently visited Amanohashidate (the heavenly bridge) in Kyoto Prefecture for the first time in a year with my family. Amanohashidate is a 3.6-kilometer-long sandbar stretching along Miyazu Bay. The sandbar is lined with numerous beautiful pine trees. To admire the view of Amanohashidate, climbing up the hills on the both sides of the bay is recommended. Last year, we climbed up the hill on the northern side, so that this year, we headed to the hill on the southern side.
To climb up the hill on the southern side, Amonohashidate Monorail is convenient. To be exact, it is not a monorail, but a slope car. It is classified as an elevator under the Building Standards Act, not a monorail under the Railway Business Act. You can see similar transportation systems in Asukayama Park, Mt. Sarakura, Manna Country Club, Hakone Mountain and Minami-Yatsugatake Hana-no-mori Park.
This unique system was built by Kaho Monorail Company in 1999. Connecting Amanohashidate and Amanohashidate View Land stations, its route length is 393 meters. The maximum inclination of the route is 25 degrees. One of the features of this transportation system is its vehicle. It is a double vehicle to secure transportation capacity. Passenger capacity per vehicle is 20; therefore, a total of 40 persons can ride on each trip. The operating interval is 20 minutes. The speed of the vehicle is 55 meters per minute. The operation is driver-less using an electric motor with a rack-and-pinion driving system.
To climb up the hill on the southern side, Amonohashidate Monorail is convenient. To be exact, it is not a monorail, but a slope car. It is classified as an elevator under the Building Standards Act, not a monorail under the Railway Business Act. You can see similar transportation systems in Asukayama Park, Mt. Sarakura, Manna Country Club, Hakone Mountain and Minami-Yatsugatake Hana-no-mori Park.
This unique system was built by Kaho Monorail Company in 1999. Connecting Amanohashidate and Amanohashidate View Land stations, its route length is 393 meters. The maximum inclination of the route is 25 degrees. One of the features of this transportation system is its vehicle. It is a double vehicle to secure transportation capacity. Passenger capacity per vehicle is 20; therefore, a total of 40 persons can ride on each trip. The operating interval is 20 minutes. The speed of the vehicle is 55 meters per minute. The operation is driver-less using an electric motor with a rack-and-pinion driving system.
Amanohashidate Monorail and the view from Amanohashidate View Land