Yurikamome Line Symbol

, formerly the , is an automated guideway transit service operated by ''Yurikamome, Inc.'' in Tokyo, Japan. It connects Shimbashi to Toyosu, via the artificial island of Odaiba, a market in which it competes with the Rinkai Line.

The line is named after the black-headed gull (''yurikamome'' in Japanese), a common denizen of Tokyo Bay and the official metropolitan bird.

History

Before its 1995 opening, it was widely feared that the Yurikamome would end up as a multibillion-yen white elephant. The artificial island of Odaiba, which it serves, had been designed and constructed at prodigious expense before Japan's economic crash and, much like London's equally beleaguered Canary Wharf, there simply did not seem to be enough demand to support it. On 1 November 1995, the section between Shimbashi and Ariake opened, using a temporary Shimbashi station. In the first few months of operation, ridership hovered around 27,000 passengers per day, only a little less than the predicted 29,000, but still far less than the 80,000 passengers needed to be profitable.

However, in 1996, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government re-zoned Odaiba from pure business and residential to also permit entertainment zones. The island provided Tokyo with a strip of livable seaside, and within one year, ridership doubled to 60,000. As more and more restaurants, shopping malls, exhibition centers and museums opened, traffic continued to grow. On 22 March 2001, the current Shimbashi station opened and the temporary station closed. Shiodome Station opened on 2 November 2002. On 27 March 2006, the section between Ariake and Toyosu opened and stations adopted letter and number codes based on Tokyo Metro.

It is not just the island that became popular, as the Yurikamome had become an attraction in itself. To raise itself from ground level to the Rainbow Bridge, the Yurikamome makes a 270-degree loop, providing panoramic views of both mainland Tokyo and Odaiba.

An accident on the Yurikamome occurred on the afternoon of 14 April 2006. According to a government commission, one of the axles on the six-car train was cracked due to metal fatigue, causing a rubber tire on the train to fall off. The train came to a halt near Fune-no-kagakukan station, and services were suspended on the entire line. This came at the start of a busy weekend when events were taking place at Tokyo Big Sight on Odaiba, but, according to news reports, alternate means of transportation were offered and there was no major confusion. The Yurikamome resumed limited train service on April 17 while further inspections and tests continued, with full service restored on 19 April.

On the morning of 14 August 2006, a large-scale power outage in the Tokyo metropolitan area occurred, causing trains to come to a complete halt on the elevated tracks, trapping passengers for nearly an hour.

On 16 March 2019, two stations were renamed: Fune-no-kagakukan became Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, and Kokusai-tenjijō-seimon became Tokyo Big Sight.

Future plans

At over 110,000 passengers per day, the Yurikamome is making a net profit and will pay off its loans in full faster than the 20 years originally anticipated. Operating frequency, hours of operation and number of trainsets have been continually revised upwards to accommodate the ever-increasing number of passengers.

Technology

The Yurikamome is Tokyo's first fully automated and driverless transit system, controlled entirely by computers with no drivers on board. However, the line is not the first fully driverless transit line in Japan, as Kobe's Port Liner opened in 1981, 14 years before the Yurikamome.

The Yurikamome is sometimes mistakenly called a monorail, but the trains run with rubber-tired wheels on elevated concrete track guided by the side walls.

Stations

Since 2006, all the stations use the recorded voices of different voice actors for their Japanese-language announcements. The letter "U" is used as the symbol for station numbers rather than "Y" for Yurikamome as this letter is already used as the acronym for the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line.

Yurikamome trains are taken in and out of service at Ariake, and are stored in a yard near Tokyo Big Sight when not in service.

Ridership

Ridership on the line peaked at over 200,000 daily boardings in 2000, but declined substantially by 2004 as the Rinkai Line, which opened a year after the Yurikamome Line, expanded into more of the waterfront area and offered lower fares. Between 2004 and 2006, four new stations were added, which raised ridership slightly. As of 2023, daily ridership totals are roughly 97% of pre-pandemic levels with patronage shifting to the eastern end of the line.

Rolling stock

The line uses Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rubber-tired " Crystal Mover" technology. , the following train types are used on the line, all formed as six-car sets.
* 7000 series
* 7200 series
* 7300 series
* 7500 series

Between 2014 and 2016, a fleet of 18 new six-car 7300 series trains are being introduced on the line. The first train was test run during the summer of 2013, entering revenue service from 18 January 2014. The new trains have longitudinal seating throughout, to increase overall capacity and speed-up boarding and alighting. Between June 2018 and June 2020, eight more six-car trainsets (7500-series) were built for the line by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to replace the fleet of 7200 series trains.

7000 series

, four out of the original eighteen 7000 series sets (05, 16, 17, and 18) were still in service, formed as six-car sets as follows.

("xx" stands for the unit number.)

7200 series

The 7200 series began operation in February 1999. , eight 7200 series sets (21 to 28) were in service, formed as six-car sets as follows.

("xx" stands for the unit number.)

7300 series

, eighteen 7300 series sets (31 to 48) are in service, formed as six-car sets as follows.

("xx" stands for the unit number.)

7500 series

, eight 7500 series sets (51 to 58) are in service, formed as six-car sets as below. In November 2020, delivery of the eight six-car sets was completed.

("xx" stands for the unit number.)

In fiction

The line is featured in the anime '' Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club'' from the ''Love Live!'' franchise, with a fictional station bearing the school's name from the show.

See also

* List of tram and light-rail transit systems
* People mover

References

External links

*

Japan Rail and Transport Review article

{{Tokyo transit

People mover systems in Japan
Railway lines opened in 1995
1995 establishments in Japan