A positioning system and method for a monorail train are disclosed. The system includes: a first beacon, laid on one side of an up-going rail; a second beacon, laid on one side of a down-going rail, the first beacon and the second beacon being laid asymmetrically; a first beacon antenna and a second beacon antenna, the first beacon antenna being provided at a front carriage of the monorail train, the second beacon antenna being provided at a rear carriage of the monorail train, and the first beacon antenna and the second beacon antenna being provided on two opposite sides of the monorail train; and a positioning device, configured to acquire beacon data read by the first beacon antenna and beacon data read by the second beacon antenna and to determine a running direction and position information of the monorail train according to the beacon data read by the first beacon antenna and the beacon data read by the second beacon antenna.