SAFEGE

It was formed in 1919 as Société Auxiliaire Française d'Électricité, Gaz et Eau, a holding company with interests in private water, gas, and electricity production and distribution.

When in 1947, these public utilities were nationalised, the company became the engineering and consulting office which it is today, taking the name Société Anonyme Française d'Études, de Gestion et d'Entreprises.

The test track built in France by SAFEGE in 1959, was a 1.4-kilometre (0.87 mi) monorail line that featured prominently in the 1966 movie adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, directed by François Truffaut.

Its chief and more numerous competitor in modern monorail applications are variations of the German-designed ALWEG system, in which the vehicles run on top of, and straddle, a solid beam.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan has developed a working system of SAFEGE-type suspended railways, and have made three such installations, two of which remain in operation today.

The preserved car and track of the Higashiyama Zoo Monorail in 2008
The preserved car and track of the Higashiyama Zoo Monorail in 2017
The Shonan Monorail in Japan