Port Island Line

The Nihongo|Port Island Line|ポートアイランド線|Port Island sen, commonly known as Nihongo|Port Liner|ポートライナー is an urban automated guideway transit (AGT) system in Kobe, Japan, operated by Kobe New Transit. Opened in February 1981, it was the world's first urban AGT.

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.

See also

*Kobe New Transit 2000 series
*Rokko Liner
*Airport rail link

External links

*ja [http://www.knt-liner.co.jp/ Official site]
*en [http://www.knt-liner.co.jp/english/index.asp English part of official site]