Chiba Urban Monorail Line 2

The system is built to the SAFEGE design, in which the cars hang beneath a single hollow concrete beam; the running surfaces and bogies are enclosed inside the beam, which protects the moving parts from rain, snow and ice. The Chiba network is the world's only dual-beamed SAFEGE-type system. Suspended construction was attractive in Chiba because the slim overhead beam occupies little ground space and can be threaded above existing city streets, an important consideration for a line built through an already developed urban area.

Line 2 was the first part of the whole monorail to open. The initial segment, between Sports Center Station and Chishirodai Station, entered service on 28 March 1988; at the outset the Sports Center–Dōbutsukōen portion was operated as a single track. The line was then extended inward toward the city centre on 12 June 1991, when the section from Chiba Station — at first a temporary terminus set about 100 metres toward Chiba-kōen — to Sports Center Station opened and the whole of Line 2 was double-tracked.

The network grew around Line 2 over the following decade. On 1 August 1995 Line 1 opened between Chibaminato Station and Chiba Station; on the same day Chiba Station was relocated to its present building and through-operation between Line 2 and the new Chibaminato–Chiba section of Line 1 began. When Line 1 was completed to Kenchō-mae Station on 24 March 1999, the two routes were separated into distinct operating systems. Through-running between the lines was later resumed on 1 December 2002.

In 2001 the company's combined 15.2-kilometre network was certified by Guinness World Records as the longest suspended monorail in the world, a distinction it still holds. Line 2, at 12.0 kilometres, accounts for the great majority of that total, while Line 1 contributes the remaining 3.2 kilometres between Chibaminato and Kenchō-mae.

In later years operations on Line 2 were gradually streamlined and modernised. The four-car scheduled trains that had run during the morning commuter peak were withdrawn entirely on 19 March 2007. On 20 February 2019 the operator announced the introduction of station numbering across the network, and on 31 August 2019 platform-edge doors were installed at Chiba Station, the line's busiest stop.

• 197920 March: Chiba Urban Monorail Co., Ltd. is established as a third-sector company.
• 198828 March: Line 2 opens between Sports Center Station and Chishirodai Station — the first section of the whole monorail; the Sports Center–Dōbutsukōen portion is initially single-tracked.
• 199112 June: Line 2 is extended from Chiba Station (initially a temporary terminus about 100 m toward Chiba-kōen) to Sports Center Station; the whole line is double-tracked.
• 19951 August: Line 1 opens between Chibaminato and Chiba; Chiba Station is moved to its present building and through-operation with Line 2 begins.
• 199924 March: Line 1 is completed to Kenchō-mae Station, and Line 2 is separated from Line 1 into a distinct operating system.
• 2001The company's combined 15.2 km network is certified by Guinness World Records as the world's longest suspended monorail.
• 20021 December: through-operation between Line 2 and Line 1 is resumed.
• 200719 March: the four-car scheduled trains run during the morning commuter peak are entirely withdrawn.
• 201920 February: the operator announces the introduction of station numbering across the network.
• 201931 August: platform-edge doors are installed at Chiba Station.