Kokura Line (Kitakyushu Monorail)

The line uses the Japanese straddle-beam type, an Alweg-type design in which the trains ride astride a single beam rather than hanging beneath a rail. When it opened it was the first monorail in the world to combine high-level platforms with cars whose floors sat entirely above the bogies. Placing the floor above the bogies freed up interior space, and almost all of Japan's surviving Alweg-type monorails have since adopted the same high-platform, podium-free arrangement.

The monorail opened on 9 January 1985, running from the station then called Kokura — today's Heiwadōri — south to Kikugaoka. The line is owned by the city of Kitakyushu; it was planned as an urban transit project for the Kokura district and replaced earlier surface transport in the corridor. From the outset it served Kokuraminami ward, whose population was growing, but its original city-centre terminus stopped short of the main railway hub at Kokura Station.

That shortfall was addressed in 1998. On 1 April 1998 the line was extended roughly three hundred metres from Heiwadōri directly into the Kokura Station building, giving the monorail a connection to JR's Kokura Station; at the same time the former terminus, which had been named Kokura, was renamed Heiwadōri. The extension had been resisted by businesses in the Uomachi shopping district, who feared they would lose customers, but that loss did not materialise.

The municipally owned monorail did not make a profit until the extension to Kokura Station was completed in 1998.

No further extension has been built since then. A discount "100-yen monorail" ticket for trips to an adjacent station or between Kokura and Tanga was introduced in 2007, and the line adopted the "mono SUGOCA" IC smart-card fare system in 2015. The monorail also runs occasional novelty services, including a Santa Claus train on 24 December.

13 stations tracked on the map, listed alphabetically. Select any to read its page.

• Heiwadori平和通
• Jono (Kitakyushu Urban Monorail)城野
• Katano片野
• Kawaraguchi Mihagino香春口三萩野
• Keibajomae (Fukuoka)競馬場前
• Kikugaoka企救丘
• Kitagata (Fukuoka)北方
• Kokura小倉
• Moritsune守恒
• Shii (Kitakyushu Urban Monorail)志井
• Tanga旦過
• Tokuriki Arashiyamaguchi徳力嵐山口
• Tokuriki Kodanmae徳力公団前

• 19859 January: the monorail opens between the station then named Kokura (now Heiwadōri) and Kikugaoka, the world's first monorail with high-level platforms and trains with floors entirely above the bogies.
• 19981 April: the line is extended about 300 m from Heiwadōri into the Kokura Station building, connecting to JR Kokura Station; the former terminus 'Kokura' is renamed Heiwadōri.
• 199818 May: a fare revision takes effect, with a base fare of 170 yen (150 yen between Kokura and Heiwadōri).
• 20071 May: the discount 'Monorail for 100 yen' ticket goes on sale for short trips to an adjacent station and between Kokura and Tanga.
• 20141 April: fares are revised in line with the consumption-tax rate increase.
• 20151 October: the 'mono SUGOCA' IC smart-card fare system is introduced and fares are revised.
• 20163 October: the size of the ordinary paper tickets is enlarged.
• 20191 October: fares are revised for the consumption-tax rate increase; a maternity discount and a one-day pass are introduced.