Osaka Monorail Main Line

Rather than running radially into central Osaka like the region's older railways, the monorail was conceived as an orbital line threading across the northern suburbs and tying together the many radial routes that fan out from the city. Along its course it intersects and offers transfers to lines including the Hankyu Takarazuka, Senri and Kyoto lines, the Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway, the Osaka Metro and the Keihan Main Line, knitting together communities that had previously been awkward to reach from one another without travelling in and out of the city centre.

The line opened in stages. The first section, between Senri-Chūō and Minami-Ibaraki, began service on 1 June 1990, establishing the central spine of the route across the northern suburbs. Operations were run by Osaka High-Speed Railway (大阪高速鉄道), the third-sector company set up to build and run the system.

The western end was extended next. On 30 September 1994 the line was carried from Senri-Chūō to Shibahara (the station now called Shibahara-handai-mae), and on 1 April 1997 it reached its present western terminus at Osaka Airport, finally giving Itami Airport a direct rail connection to the suburban rail network. On the same day the station then named Ibaraki was renamed Uno-be.

The eastern end was completed a few months later. On 22 August 1997 the section from Minami-Ibaraki to Kadoma-shi opened, bringing the Main Line to its full 21.2-kilometre length between Osaka Airport and Kadoma-shi. With this the line reached the form it has today, fourteen stations end to end.

The line's run of uninterrupted service was broken on 18 June 2018, when the magnitude-6.1 earthquake in northern Osaka Prefecture forced a suspension of the entire line. Service was restored in stages over the following days — between Osaka Airport and Bampaku-kinen-kōen on 20 June, on to Minami-Ibaraki on 22 June, and across the final Minami-Ibaraki to Kadoma-shi section on 23 June. A further precautionary stoppage was imposed on 24 June over the risk of a falling component, with service resumed from the first train the next morning.

Two later changes reflect the system's evolving identity. On 1 October 2019 Shibahara Station was renamed Shibahara-handai-mae, and on 1 June 2020 the operating company changed its corporate name from Osaka High-Speed Railway to Osaka Monorail Co., Ltd. Looking ahead, an 8.9-kilometre extension with five new stations is planned to carry the line south-east from Kadoma-shi toward a new terminus at Uryūdō; originally targeted to open in fiscal 2029, it has been pushed back to fiscal 2033 after boring surveys revealed weak ground along the route.

• 19901 June: the first section, Senri-Chūō–Minami-Ibaraki, opens, run by the third-sector Osaka High-Speed Railway.
• 199430 September: the line is extended from Senri-Chūō to Shibahara (now Shibahara-handai-mae).
• 19971 April: the line reaches its present western terminus at Osaka Airport (Itami), extended from Shibahara; on the same day Ibaraki Station is renamed Uno-be.
• 199722 August: the Minami-Ibaraki–Kadoma-shi section opens, completing the 21.2 km Main Line between Osaka Airport and Kadoma-shi (14 stations).
• 2011Until Chongqing Rail Transit Line 3 opens in China this year, the Main Line is recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's longest straddle-beam monorail by route length.
• 201818 June: the magnitude-6.1 northern Osaka Prefecture earthquake suspends the entire line.
• 201820–23 June: service resumes in stages — Osaka Airport–Bampaku-kinen-kōen (20th), on to Minami-Ibaraki (22nd), and Minami-Ibaraki–Kadoma-shi (23rd).
• 201824 June: service is halted again from the first train over the risk of a falling component, resuming from the first train the next morning.
• 20191 October: Shibahara Station is renamed Shibahara-handai-mae.
• 20201 June: the operating company changes its corporate name from Osaka High-Speed Railway to Osaka Monorail Co., Ltd.
• 2033Planned: an 8.9 km, five-station extension from Kadoma-shi toward a new terminus at Uryūdō, now targeted to open in fiscal 2033 after being pushed back from fiscal 2029 due to weak ground found in boring surveys.