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Maharaja Sir Bhupinder Singh of the [[Princely states|Princely ]][[Patiala State]] got this unique railway system constructed to facilitate movement of people and goods in his state. The chief engineer of this project was Colonel [[C W Bowles]] who had earlier successfully used monorail based on Ewing System (designed by William Thorold) during his stint as engineer during laying of tracks for the [[Bengal-Nagpur Railway]] when responsible for the [[Bengal-Nagpur RailwayKharagpur Construction Monorail|Construction works at Kharagpur ]] used for transportation of construction materials and . Colonel [[C W Bowles|Bowles]] was made chief Engineer for the PSMT project. One of the objects of PSMT was to make use of the 560 mules being maintained by Patiala State. Apart from mules, bullocks were also used to haul the monorail before introduction of steam locomotives on the route of PSMT.

The total distance covered by PSMT was 50 miles (80 km). PSMT was run on two unconnected lines.The lines were constructed by the firm of Marsland and Price, based in Bombay. *[[Sirhind]] to [[Morinda]], a distance of 15 miles (24 km). At [[Sirhind]] there was a connection to the [[North Western Railway]] ‘Ambala-Ludiana SectionMainline’ and the line was opened as far as Basi, 5 miles(8km). It was proposed to extend this line to [[Ropar]] but since Ropar was connected by a railway line, this idea was abandoned. *[[Patiala]] to [[Sunam]], a distance of 35 miles(56 km) via [[Basi]]<ref name=name>[http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V07_101.gif "Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 7, p. 95. Basi"]; Retrieved 22 Dec 2015</ref>, 5 miles(8km) from [[Sirhind]] where there was a connection to the [[North Western Railway]].

The only published information about PSMT was in a is very limited:-*The 1908 edition of the [[Imperial Gazetteer of India ]] )<ref name=name>[http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V07_101.gif "Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 7, p. 95. Basi"]; Retrieved 22 Dec 2015</ref> in which there was a brief mention. The gazetteer simply stated that "a mono-rail tramway, opened in February, 1907, connects '''Basi''' with the railway at [[Sirhind]]". *The pre-opening examination report carried out by the NWR in December 1908 reported that the line was to be worked by mule power to start but ‘two steam .. and one .. petrol monorail engines had been ordered’. The report also confirmed that the line between ‘Sirhind and Bassi, a distance of 6 miles(9.6km) had been completed’ and it hzad four passenger vehicles and 30 goods vehicles. The passenger vehicle carried 18 to 20 people and the goods vehicles 82 maunds. The report described the platforms, lines and operations of the monorail. It reported an average working speed of 8 miles per hour but a trial run over 1½ miles(2.4km) with one car and four artilliary horses gave a speed of nearly 20 miles per hour <ref name =darvill>“Industrial Railways and Locomotives of India and South Asia” compliled by Simon Darvill. Published by ‘The Industrial Railway Society’ 2013. ISBN 978 1 901556 82-7. Available at http://irsshop.co.uk/India. Reference: Entry PB10 page ....</ref>.*An ordnance map of 1913 also shows a tramway running along west side of road, but does not mention the PSMT by name. Apart from the above, PSMT has not been mentioned in any official documents of that period in India.

The It is generally thought that the PSMT closed when the opening in 1927-28 of the [[North Western Railway]](NWR)'s [[Sirhind-Rupar Railway]]line made the Patiala State Monorail Trainways obsolete together with any plan to extend the line from Morinda to Rupar. However adverts were placed by the Punjab [[Public Works Department]] in the 2 Jul 1921 edition of ‘Indian Engineering’ offering monorail trucks, passenger cars, locomotives etc for sale and in the 25 July 1925 edition it offers the whole of the tramway with the statement ‘although the line is a monorail, the wagons and carriages are suitable for conversion to narrow gauge at not too much extra cost’ <ref name =darvill/>. Further information and later history of the locomotives is given in Railways and Locomotives of India and South Asia” compiled by Simon Darvill <ref name =darvill/>.