A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles travelling on such a beam or track. Monorails have been around since the 1800s, but only really came to public attention in the 1950s when Walt Disney installed one in his new theme park: Disneyland, California.
Modern monorails are based on a single solid beam that supports and guides the train; the carriages are either suspended beneath the track or sit on top, with their wheels straddling electricity, which is carried on a ‘third rail’ either within or connected to, the main beam. Conductive shoes on the carriages then transmit the current to the train. The straddle-beam design is the most widely used. The carriages have pneumatic rubber tyres, which drive along the top of an ‘I’-shaped beam.
In fact, monorails are one of the safest forms of transport. The elevated track minimises interaction with traffic and pedestrians, eliminating the need for crossings, and derailment is very rare. They are energy efficient too and their rubber tyres produce the beam. They are usually powered by simple inversion of the straddle monorail, much less noise pollution than the metal wheels of conventional trains.
