Hundreds walked from College Street to the Shyambazar tram depot on Saturday demanding that tram routes not be cut down or stopped but expanded across the city.

There was a call for the modernisation of the tram fleet and new investment in trams. Supporters of trams said across the globe, cities that had discontinued trams have revived it.

The march was aimed at drawing the attention of people who were out in large numbers on the last weekend before Puja. The organisers also held a meeting inside the Shyambazar tram depot and left the busy Bidhan Sarani free for traffic.

Debashis Bhattacharyya, founder president of Calcutta Tram Users Association, a group of Calcuttans advocating a wider tram network in the city, said their aim was to increase awareness among common people about the benefits of trams and build a pressure on the government to not stop trams or restrict it to only one route.

G.M. Kapur, state convenor of Intach, a non-profit involved in protecting and creating awareness about heritage, said fresh investments and modernisation of the fleet can turn trams around.

“There have not been any investments in improving the condition of trams. The fleet must be modernised and expanded,” he said.

Trams used to run on 35 routes till early 2017, but only two routes are operational now, said Sagnik Gupta, another member of the tram users association.

The two routes in operation are route number 25 (Gariahat to Esplanade) and 5 (Shyambazar to Esplanade).

On September 23, transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty said the state government will run trams only on a stretch between Esplanade and Maidan and do away with the rest.

The transport department is drawing up a report that will be submitted before Calcutta High Court, which had asked the state to find ways to preserve “heritage trams”.

While inaugurating the 150 years celebrations of Calcutta’s trams last year, Chakraborty had said trams can be run on only “four-five routes”.

“People are thinking that trams have stopped running, which is not the case. But there has been an effort for last many years to gradually reduce tram routes. We want more tram routes in the city. The argument that trams slow down traffic is unsubstantiated. There is no study to show that,” said Bhattacharyya.

A high court bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam had in May last year barred the state from pouring bitumen over tram tracks.

In June last year, the bench spoke about the need to preserve Calcutta’s trams and directed the state to set up within three weeks an “expert committee” for the preservation of the “heritage transport”.

The high court also barred the Calcutta Tramways Company from selling any property till further orders.