Port Island Line
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. Opened in 1981, the Port Liner was one of the world's first driverless urban transit systems, followed closely by the VAL system used on the Lille Metro, which opened in 1983.
| Port Liner | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
 Sannomiya Station of Port Liner | |||
| Overview | |||
| Owner | Kobe New Transit | ||
| Locale | Kobe | ||
| Termini | Sannomiya Kobe Airport | ||
| Stations | 12 | ||
| Service | |||
| Type | Automated guideway transit | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | February 5, 1981 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 10.8 km (6.71 mi) | ||
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The initial system linked Sannomiya Station, Kobe's main transit hub, to the man-made Port Island, covering a distance of 6.4 km with 9 stations. On February 2, 2006, the line was extended by 4.3 km to the new Kobe Airport, built on an artificial island near Port Island.
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".
Originally, before the 2006 extension to the airport, the loop section was single track and operated only counter-clockwise trains. Presently 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.
| Station | km | |
|---|---|---|
| Double track section | ||
| P01 | Sannomiya | 0.0 |
| P02 | Bōeki Center | 0.8 |
| P03 | Port Terminal | 1.8 |
| P04 | Naka Kōen | 2.8 |
| P05 | Minatojima | 3.3 |
| P06 | Shimin Hiroba | 3.8 |
| P07 | Iryō Center | 4.6 |
| P08 | K Computer Mae | 5.4 |
| P09 | Kobe Airport | 8.2 |
| Single Track Section | ||
| P06 | Shimin-Hiroba | 0.0 |
| PL07 | Minami Kōen | 0.6 |
| PL08 | Naka Futō | 1.2 |
| PL09 | Kita Futō | 1.7 |
| P04 | Naka-Kōen | 2.6 |
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.[1]
Rolling stock
- Kobe New Transit 2020 series (since 2016)
- Kobe New Transit 2000 series (since 2006)
- Kobe New Transit 8000 series (from 1981 until 2009)
See also
References
- "ポートライナー、３０年ぶり駅名変更". Asahi Shimbun. July 1, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Port Island Line. |
- Official site (in Japanese)
- English part of official site(in English)