Yūkarigaoka Line

The line is unusual in being run by the railway division of a real-estate company rather than a conventional rail operator. Excluding third-sector ventures, it was the first AGT in Japan to be built and operated by purely private capital, and as of 2021 the only other purely private-capital AGT in the country was the Seibu Railway's Yamaguchi Line. Because Seibu also operates ordinary railways, the Yūkarigaoka Line is the sole line in Japan run by a purely private operator whose only business is an AGT. The six stations were deliberately sited so that each lies within roughly a ten-minute walk of the new town's homes.

As a railway under the Railway Business Act, the line uses a central guide-rail system known as VONA, developed by Nippon Sharyo and others, which had earlier been installed as an attraction at the Yatsu Yūen amusement park in Narashino, Chiba, before the Yūkarigaoka Line opened. Since the closure of the Momokōdai Line in Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, on 1 October 2006, the Yūkarigaoka Line has been the only AGT in Japan to use the central-guide type of guideway. The whole line is single track with no level crossings, with a maximum gradient of 45 per mil and a minimum curve radius of 40 metres.

Operationally the line is worked as a one-way loop. The Yūkarigaoka–Kōen section is single track used in both directions, while the Kōen–Joshidai–Kōen section is a one-way loop. A train leaving Yūkarigaoka runs to Kōen, circles the loop counter-clockwise, and returns through Kōen back to Yūkarigaoka, a full circuit taking about fourteen minutes; there are no trains running in the opposite direction. The line is operated under one-man (driver-only) working, and from around December 2022 automated announcements were updated with a new voice and English-language announcements were added.

The line opened in two stages. The first section, from Yūkarigaoka Station through Joshidai to Chūgakkō, opened on 2 November 1982. The remaining section, from Chūgakkō through Ino to Kōen, opened on 22 September 1983, completing the line and allowing loop operation to begin. The rolling stock, the Yamaman 1000 series built by Nippon Sharyo, entered service with the line in 1982; the trains carry the nickname "Koara-gō" (koala) and a koala front emblem, both adopted at the line's tenth anniversary in 1992, and the small cars are not air-conditioned. A further infill station, Chiku Center, opened on 3 December 1992.

The Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 forced the whole line to close from that day; service resumed on 1 April 2011, though buses substituted for daytime trains until the 7th. In later years the line became a testbed for cashless travel: a face-recognition fare trial ran from 15 September 2021, and on 15 June 2024 Yamaman introduced a face-recognition fare system branded "Yūkari PASS" together with QR-code tickets, having ended the sale of magnetic tickets and commuter passes the previous day, 14 June 2024. The fare is charged at a flat rate, and IC cards such as PASMO and Suica are not accepted.

The line has a notable safety record, having run without a casualty accident or comparable operating incident since it opened in 1982; by 2014 it had completed 32 years of accident-free operation, and Yamaman has repeatedly been commended by the Director-General of the Kantō District Transport Bureau as an accident-free railway operator. Although classified as an AGT, the line is often described locally, in advertising and elsewhere, as a monorail. It remains a compact, self-contained line whose chief purpose is to knit together the Yūkarigaoka new town and connect its residents to the wider rail network at Yūkarigaoka Station, where it meets the Keisei Main Line.

• 19822 November: the first section opens, from Yūkarigaoka Station through Joshidai to Chūgakkō; the Yamaman 1000 series enters service.
• 198322 September: the Chūgakkō–Ino–Kōen section opens, completing the line; loop operation begins.
• 1992The "Koara-gō" (koala) nickname and koala front emblem are adopted for the trains at the line's tenth anniversary.
• 19923 December: Chiku Center station opens.
• 20061 October: with the closure of the Momokōdai Line in Aichi, the Yūkarigaoka Line becomes the only AGT in Japan using a central guide-rail (VONA) system.
• 201111 March: the Great East Japan Earthquake forces the whole line to suspend operation from this day.
• 20111 April: service resumes; buses substitute for daytime trains until the 7th.
• 202115 September: a face-recognition fare trial begins, running until the end of January 2022.
• 202414 June: sales of magnetic tickets and commuter passes end.
• 202415 June: the "Yūkari PASS" face-recognition fare system and QR-code tickets are introduced.