An AC single-coach tram on one of Calcutta’s oldest routes — Shyambazar to Esplanade via College Street, commonly referred to as boi para — will now have a library.

When tram services on the route resume on Thursday after being shut in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan passengers will be greeted with a free pen for a week the moment they board the tram. They can then go through the books and magazines stacked on shelves on one side.

The Shyambazar-Esplanade route has remained popular among students in central Calcutta who get in and off trams, a West Bengal Transport Corporation official said. “We thought a library on wheels will be ideal while relaunching services on the route.”

Rajanvir Singh Kapur, the managing director of West Bengal Transport Corporation, said the idea was to popularise trams. “More so among students who can now get to spend time browsing books while on the tram. The collection of books and magazines will be gradually increased… we hope to organise book launches, too, on this tram-library.”

This will be the fifth route to become operational after several lines and cables had been uprooted by Cyclone Amphan.

“Two-coach trams have compartments measuring 28ft each in length. This one has a length of 36ft and has pneumatic doors,” a WBTC official said.

Another official said WBTC would try to organise book reading sessions on the tram in the next few weeks. “A literature festival, too, is on the cards in November.”

Trams on the Shyambazar-Esplanade route were the first to have AC coaches last year. A one-way ticket costs Rs 20.

A one-way ticket for 4km on a non-AC tram costs Rs 6. When the AC service was launched officials were worried if the ticket price would act as a hindrance.

But with six trips a day, the single-coach AC tram ended up earning almost thrice the revenue than that of two-coach non-AC trams.

At least 30 institutions are located within 500m of the tram route, including Scottish Church College, Bethune College, Presidency University, Sanskrit University, Calcutta University, Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and the IISWBM.

Some Calcuttans are unhappy with the way two-coach trams are being converted into single-coach ones.

While every city is busy developing its heritage and culture by preserving and restoring the transport system, Calcutta is walking away from it, a member of the Calcutta Tram Users Association said.

“Instead of restoring and running their historical rolling stock as heritage specials and setting up a proper tram museum, the transport department is busy writing them off,” another member said.

Tram protest

The Calcutta Tram Users Association has called for a protest on September 27 at the Kalighat tram depot's Gate No. 2, demanding the preservation of “heritage wooden trams”.

The sense of history and heritage often dies an immature death when modernisation is carried out without proper planning and there is a lust for profit, he said. “The older rolling stock of trams in Calcutta is no exception. In a city that has heritage in its every breath, trams play an immense role.”