Patiala State Monorail Trainways

Patiala State Monorail Trainways
Patiala State Monorail train at National Rail Museum, New Delhi
Patiala State Monorail train at National Rail Museum, New Delhi
Overview
LocalePatiala State
Transit typeMonorail
Number of lines2
Operation
Began operationFebruary 1907
Ended operation1927
Technical
System length50 mi (80 km)

Patiala State Monorail Trainways (PSMT) was a unique rail-guided, partially road-borne railway system running in Patiala from 1907 to 1927.[1][2] PSMT was the second monorail system in India, after the Kundala Valley Railway,[3] near Munnar in Kerala, and the only operational locomotive-hauled railway system built using the Ewing System in the world.[4] The Kundala Valley Railway pre-dated this, also using the Ewing system between 1902 and 1908, although this only used bullocks for haulage. Following the conversion of the Kundala Valley Railway from a monorail to a narrow gauge railway in 1908,[5] PSMT was the only monorail system in India until its closure in 1927. These were the only instances of a monorail train system in India, until the Mumbai Monorail was opened on 2 February 2014.

A locomotive and a coach of PSMT have been restored, are in running condition and are exhibited in the Indian National Rail Museum, New Delhi.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference IGI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Unusual railways by Mr. J. R. Day and Mr. B. G. Wilson
  3. ^ Mumbai gawks as train chugs overhead. Telegraphindia.com (2013-02-19). Retrieved on 2013-07-29.
  4. ^ Cassell's Railways of the World By Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot, 1924 edition
  5. ^ "Sands of Time" (PDF). Newsletter of Tata Central Archives. V (1). Tata: 5–6. January 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2008.