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One track minds -

In the summer of 1890 several steam locomotives and cars were in regular and continuous operation for passenger service in Brooklyn, New York, run on a single load-bearing rail at ground level known as the Boynton Bicycle Railroad. This effectively was a monorail, the engine running under a wooden overhead stabilizing rail engaged by a pair of horizontally opposed wheels. The Boynton Bicycle Railroad didn't catch on, but the concept was subsequently adopted by equally ambitious railway engineers.  

Image: ARRT's Archives.

© Public Domain 

Pelham Park and City Island Railway -

Later in 1910, the mainland portion of the Pelham Park and City Island Railway, a short street railway in the Bronx, was converted to an electrically-driven monorail, its design loosely based on the Boynton effort. 

Image: Library of Congress.

© Public Domain 

Balancing act -

This gyroscopically balanced monorail unveiled in 1909 by Irish-Australian engineer Louis Brennan (1852–1932) and German newspaper magnate August Scherl (1849–1921) was tested as an early prototype, but never developed. 

Image: Verlag Diek & Co. 

© Public Domain

Dresden, Germany -

And it's in Germany where we find the Dresden Suspension Railway, which entered service in 1901 and connects the districts of Loschwitz and Oberloschwitz. While operated as a conventional funicular railway, the suspension railway design concept effectively became the forerunner of the monorail system, the term being used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. It's one of the oldest suspension railways in the world. 

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Chongqing, China -

And the monorail has made substantial inroads since those early pioneering days. The Chongqing Rail Transit (CRT) system that serves the Chinese city of Chongquing consists of nine lines of which Lines 2 and 3 are high-capacity monorails. Line 3 (pictured) is the longest and busiest single monorail line in the world.  

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Chongqing, China -

Meanwhile, CRT's Line 2 follows a track that cuts right through a residential building. The apartment block used to house a station, Liziba, but that has now closed. The specialized noise reduction equipment to isolate station noise from the surrounding residences, however, remains in place.

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Detroit, USA -

Detroit, the "Motor City," is served by an elevated automated people mover. The system, inaugurated in 1987, operates in a one-way loop on a single track encircling downtown Detroit. 

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -

Access through the sprawling metropolis that is Kuala Lumpur is eased by the KL Monorail, seen here gliding past Bukit Bintang or Starhill, a tourist locale for shopping, eating, and sightseeing. 

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates -

Dubai benefits from the Palm Jumeirah Monorail, surely one of the most exotic public transport systems in the world as it connects the exclusive Palm Jumeirah archipelago with the mainland. The monorail is pictured passing the luxury five-star Palm Atlantis Hotel. 

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Seattle, USA -

Opened to great fanfare in 1962 for the Century 21 Exposition, or world's fair, the Seattle Center Monorail is a major tourist attraction but also operates as a regular public transit service. It's seen exiting the Frank Gehry-designed Museum of Pop Culture. 

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Tokyo, Japan -

Japan's capital is served by the Tokyo Monorail, an airport rail link that connects Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) to Tokyo's Ōta, Shinagawa, and Minato wards. The service has been operating since 1964. 

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Tokyo, Japan -

Western Tokyo, meanwhile, is served by the Tama Toshi Monorail Line, which carries passengers between the suburban cities of Higashiyamato and Hachiōji, with several stops along the way. 

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Las Vegas, USA -

Located adjacent to the famous Strip, the Las Vegas Monorail connects several large casinos, including the Sahara, Flamingo, Caesars Palace, and MGM Grand. 

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Moscow, Russia -

Operated as an extension of the metro system, the Moscow Monorail is located well out of the Russian capital, serving the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug, an area of the city landmarked by the 540-m (1,772-ft) Ostankino television and radio tower. 

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Osaka, Japan -

The Osaka Monorail is the second-longest monorail system in the world after the Chongqing Monorail, as well as the longest monorail system in Japan, connecting Osaka International Airport with Kadoma, a distance of 28 km (17 miles). An extension is planned for 2029. 

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Daegu, South Korea -

Daegu Metro Line 3 is a designated monorail line that serves Daegu, South Korea's third-largest city after Seoul and Busan. It opened in 2015 to become the country's first public transportation monorail system. 

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Walt Disney World Monorail System, USA -

The Walt Disney World Monorail System opened in 1971 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake near Orlando, Florida. There are two distinct routes on the monorail system, with three different services: Magic Kingdom Express, Magic Kingdom Resort, and Epcot. 

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Walt Disney World Monorail System, USA -

Walt Disney World Monorail System is one of the most famous and best-known monorails in the world, with over 150,000 daily riders. 

© Public Domain

Disneyland Monorail System, USA -

Originally known as the Disneyland ALWEG Monorail System, the Disney Monorail System at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, was the first daily operating monorail in the Western Hemisphere. Here it is pictured in 1962, three years after its inauguration.  

© Getty Images 

Okinawa, Japan -

Citizens of Naha in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture have the Okinawa Urban Monorail, the only public rail system available in the region. 

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São Paulo, Brazil -

South America's first mass-transit monorail was opened in August 2014 in São Paulo as Line 15 (Silver), one of the lines included in the city's metro and rail transportation network. Line 15 is currently the longest and busiest monorail line in the Americas. 

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Chiba, Japan -

The Chiba Urban Monorail located in Japan's Chiba Prefecture is distinguished for being the world's longest suspended monorail system with a track length of 15.2 km (9.4 miles). 

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Wuppertal, Germany -

The Wuppertal Schwebebahn is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in the world, and is a unique system in Germany. It began service in 1901, the same year the aforementioned Dresden Suspension Railway was rolled out. 

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Kamakura and Fujisawa, Japan -

Two Japanese cities, Kamakura and Fujisawa in Kanagawa Prefecture, are served by the Shonan Monorail. Opened in 1970, it was the first suspension railway to operate in the country.  

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Gold Coast, Australia -

Australia's only remaining monorail system is the Sea World Monorail System in Queensland. The railway forms a circuit around the Sea World theme park on the Gold Coast. 

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Ashgabat, Turkmenistan -

The landlocked country of Turkmenistan can claim the only monorail service operating in Central Asia, the Ashgabat Monorail, a line at the Olympic Village in Ashgabat. 

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Dortmund, Germany -

Dortmund's monorail system is known as the H-Bahn, an abbreviation for Hängebahn, German for 'hanging railway.' Most people call it the "Sky Train." 

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Düsseldorf, Germany -

An identical monorail, also called Sky Train, operates out of Düsseldorf Airport. Both are a suspended, driverless passenger suspension railway systems. 

© Getty Images 

Memphis, USA -

The Suspension Railway Monorail connects Memphis city center with the entertainment park on Mud Island. It's been ferrying residents and tourists alike across the Wolf River since 1982.  

© Shutterstock 

Mumbai, India -

Opened in 2014, the Mumbai Monorail system was built to expand the city's overburdened public transport network, specifically to complement service of the Mumbai Suburban Railway in some heavily populated areas. It is the first monorail in India since the closure of two services in Kerala in the 1920s. 

Sources (Stolen History) (Railway Technology) (Urban Transport Magazine) (Walt Disney World Magic)

See also: Scenic train journeys to take during winter

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