Airline companies continue facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 calamity in Japan. Accordingly, urban railway companies, which have airport access routes, are also in a tough situation. Tokyo Monorail is no exception. This company owns a monorail line between the Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) and Hamamatsucho in the downtown area. The number of passengers decreased by half after the calamity. As a result, 20% of the daytime trains have been suspended since March last year.
Even though it's in a difficult condition, Tokyo Monorail continues improving the quality of transportation to attract passengers. On October 22nd last year, the company started the renovation project of Hamamatsucho terminal. This old terminal was opened just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics... 58 years ago. It's a large-scale renovation work, and will be completed in August, 2029.
Concerning the scrupulous passenger services, a special poster train, "Kiki & Lala Monorail", was launched on September 14th last year. It's set number 10041 (10041F) of the EMU 10000 series with Kiki and Lala decorations. Kiki and Lala are Sanrio's popular mascot characters along with Hello Kitty. Kiki and Lala are siblings called Little Twin Stars. We can see the world of fairy tale both on the bodies and interiors of the train. They are very cute and amuse passengers. The only drawback is that it's not easy to get beautiful images by cameras, since these characters were in pale and pastel colors.
Tokyo Monorail is going through trying times, but will survive with aggressive investment and passenger services.
