Chiba Urban Monorail

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries successfully built and tested two suspended, SAFEGE-type monorails prior to the Chiba Urban Monorail, including the Higashiyama Park Monorail and the Shonan Monorail. The Chiba Urban Monorail was the first major installation of this type and remains the longest suspended monorail system in the world. Building upon the experience gained from the Shōnan Monorail, Mitsubishi designed and constructed the Chiba system as a dual-tracked network connecting the suburbs of Chiba Prefecture with the city's main rail station downtown. It is also the world's only dual-beamed SAFEGE-type system and includes a short spur line branching from the main route. Chiba officials selected the SAFEGE design in part because of the region's occasionally inclement weather. In a SAFEGE-type monorail, the running surfaces and train bogies are enclosed within the beam, protecting them from rain, snow, and ice.

The Chiba Urban Monorail Co., Ltd. was established on March 20, 1979. Line 2 opened between Sports Center Station and Chishirodai Station on March 28, 1988. On June 12, 1991, Line 2 was extended between Chiba Station and Sports Center Station. Line 1 between Chiba-Minato Station and Chiba Station began operation on August 1, 1995. The extension of Line 1 between Chiba Station and Kenchō-mae Station opened on March 24, 1999. At the same time, the running time on Line 2 was reduced by about 10%, and automatic ticket machines were installed at all stations.

In 2006, Chiba Prefecture withdrew its funding from the monorail project due to unsatisfactory ridership numbers. On June 21 of that year, a train collided with the arm of a crane truck working on a sewer line between Sakusabe Station and Chiba-Kōen Station on Line 2. The four-car trains in service were discontinued on March 19, 2007, and the PASMO contactless fare system was introduced on March 14, 2009.

Extensions of Line 1 had been proposed, notably a five-station, 3.4-kilometre (2.1 mi) extension from Kenchō-mae Station to Chiba Municipal Aoba Hospital. However, in 2004 an evaluation committee found that there was no need for the extension, and proposed closing the underused segment from Chiba Station to Kencho-mae Station. There was also a plan to extend the line from Anagawa Station to Inage and Inage-kaigan Station. On 4 September 2019, Chiba City announced that it had decided to discontinue plans to extend the monorail hospital route, and not to introduce a monorail on the Inage route.

The Type 0 "Urban Flyer" trains entered service on July 8, 2012. On February 20, 2019, the company announced the introduction of station numbering across the network in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. A fire on September 9, 2020, caused by a contractor accidentally cutting a cable during substation renewal work, temporarily disrupted service on all lines. By May 31, 2021, total ridership had reached 500 million passengers.