Port_Liner

Port Island Line

Port Island Line

Transit system in Kobe, Japan

The Port Island Line (ポートアイランド線, Pōtoairando-sen), commonly known as Port Liner (ポートライナー, Pōtorainā) is an urban automated guideway transit (AGT) system in Kobe, Japan, operated by Kobe New Transit.

Quick Facts Overview, Owner ...
Port Island Line
Legend
 
West Japan Railway Company  
km
km
P01
 Sannomiya
0.0
 
P02
 Bōeki Center
0.8
 
P03
 Port Terminal
1.8
 
P04
 Naka Kōen
2.8
2.6
P05
 Minatojima
3.3
 
 
1.7
 Kita Futō
PL09
P06
 Shimin Hiroba
3.8
0.0
 
1.2
 Naka Futō
PL08
 
0.6
 Minami Kōen
PL07
P07
 Iryō Center
4.6
 
P08
Keisan
Kagaku Center
5.4
 
P09
 Kobe Airport Kobe Airport
8.2
 
km
km

The initial system linked Sannomiya Station, Kobe's main transit hub, to the man-made Port Island, covering a distance of 6.4 km (4.0 mi) with 9 stations.

Route

As the map indicates, the present system consists of one straight line, originating at Sannomiya Station and terminating at Kobe Airport Station, and a loop attached to the middle of the straight line. The stations on the former are numbered with prefix "P" and on the latter (except those shared with the former) are with prefix "PL".

The main section between Sannomiya and the airport is entirely double track, but the remaining of the loop has not been rebuilt so that the three stations with PL prefix still serve only one way.

Stations

All stations are located in Chūō-ku, Kobe.

More information Station, km ...

History

Opened in 1981, the Port Liner was the world's first driverless urban transit system,[1] more than two years ahead of the VAL system used on the Lille Metro, which opened in 1983.

Originally, before the 2006 extension to the airport, the loop section was single track and operated only counter-clockwise trains.

On 2 February 2006, the line was extended by 4.3 km (2.7 mi) to the new Kobe Airport, built on an artificial island near Port Island.

In an announcement in 2018, a proposal was made to extend the Port Island Line to 8-car operation following an increase in ridership.[2]

Minatojima Station, Iryō Center Station and K Computer Mae Stations were renamed on July 1, 2011, from Shimin Byōin Mae Station, Sentan Iryō Center Mae Station and Port Island Minami Station respectively.[3] Following the decommissioning of K computer, K Computer Mae station was again renamed as Keisan Kagaku Center station in June 2021.[4]

Rolling stock

See also

References

  1. [1]
    枝久保達也 (25 January 2021). "世界初の完全自動無人運転、「ポートライナー」が40年前に開業した理由". diamond.jp (in Japanese). Diamond. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  2. [2]
    "輸送力強化へ ポートライナー８両編成化を検討" [Considering 8-car train of Portliner to strengthen transportation capacity]. kobe-np.co.jp. 16 February 2018. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  3. [3]
    "ポートライナー、３０年ぶり駅名変更". Asahi Shimbun. July 1, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-07-03. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
  4. [4]
    https://en.wtmnews.net/20201117347
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Port Island Line.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Port_Liner, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.