A group of tram conservationists on Sunday demanded that the state transport department formulate a policy to help trams emerge again as a popular transport option in the city, where the service made its India debut around 150 years ago.
Members of the Calcutta Tram Users Association (CTUA) alleged that over the years there had been a concerted move to scrap tram routes even though trams remain the best environment-friendly option for mass transportation in a polluted city like Calcutta.
“Some of the most popular routes have been either truncated or done away with. Trams tracks have been removed from bridges and flyovers citing the health of the structures and their inability to bear load. Why?” asked Debasish Bhattacharyya, of the CTUA.
“Around the world when efforts are on to preserve and popularise trams, in Calcutta we are trying to ensure a sure death of this mode of transportation.”
On Sunday, CTUA members turned up outside the Kalighat tram depot with posters demanding preservation of Calcutta’s tram heritage, which they said would make the city less polluted.
Trams started their journey in Calcutta in 1873. The carriages were then drawn by horses. In 1902, the first electric tram car began its service between Esplanade and Kidderpore.
The trams have taken a serious beating over the past few years. From 37 routes covering 70km in the 1960s, the city had only six routes spanning 20km till Cyclone Amphan struck on May 20. All six routes became defunct under the impact of the storm. Five of them have since been restored.
“Tram services have been stopped on the Sealdah flyover and the Kalighat bridge. At the Belgachhia tram depot, crores of rupees were spent on relaying the tracks so that the service on the Belgachhia bridge could resume. There are 35 tramcars inside the depot and they have been rotting because the service on the Belgachhia bridge has been stopped,” Bhattacharyya said. “There is no policy towards restoring the tram service in Calcutta. Instead, efforts are on how to do away with it.”
A West Bengal Transport Corporation official said they had been trying to preserve and showcase the heritage. “There is a small tram museum at Esplanade. We have started a library on an AC tram,” he said.
Experts who have been advocating for a clean and green transportation system have often cited how governments around the world have been investing on streetcars, trams and light rails. Berlin, for instance, has improved its ageing tram systems. The city of Richmond in British Columbia, Canada, had a team of conservators, curators and volunteers working on restoring the Interurban Tram Car.
Calcutta police have often objected to trams moving in a direction opposite to that of the city's traffic flow saying the slow-moving bogies remain the biggest hurdle for increasing the speed of vehicular movement.
Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2020
Monks and volunteers of Ramakrishna Math, Cossipore Sanat Kr Sinha
Monks and volunteers of Ramakrishna Math, Cossipore, joined hands to clean and sanitise the area surrounding the Math on Sunday and plant saplings as part of Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2020. Poshan Maah is part of a national nutrition mission launched in 2018 to improve nutritional status of children up to six years, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. “Nutritious food packets and clothes will be distributed to children in the area adjoining the Math on Monday,” said a senior monk.
