Stations of Ueno Zoo Monorail, Monorail stations in Ueno Zoo, Japan.
The Stations of Ueno Zoo Monorail were Ueno Zoo East Station and Ueno Zoo West Station, the two ends of a 332-metre suspended line in Taitō, Tokyo. The line crossed a public road, so it operated under railway law rather than as a zoo ride. East Station was a ground-level station, unusual for a monorail.
The line opened in 1957 and is considered Japan's first monorail. It ran for over six decades before closing in 2023.
The line's cars ran on rubber tires on a track derived from the Wuppertal suspension railway in Germany, an adaptation called the Ueno system. It was never adopted elsewhere, and the monorail remained the only route built under the Tokyo Metropolitan Suspended Railway ordinance. A parallel pedestrian path, Isop Bridge, still links the east and west gardens.
The system closed in 2023, so the stations are no longer in operation and cannot be used. The zoo itself remains open, and the grounds can be visited on foot.
The line's 332-metre run between the East and West Garden stations made it Japan's shortest monorail and the country's second-shortest railway of any kind. Its cars followed the Wuppertal suspension principle but replaced steel wheels with rubber tyres, an adaptation known as the Ueno system. Emperor Showa rode it in 1962 and again in 1979.
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