The state government will run trams only on a stretch between Esplanade and Maidan and do away with the rest, transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty said on Monday.
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”.
“We will run a decorated tram car between Esplanade and Maidan. It will be meant for those visiting the city and want to take a ride,” Chakraborty told Metro. “But we will do away with the rest of the routes. This is something we will tell Calcutta High Court as well.”
From 25 tram routes in 2015, the service is now available on just three routes a year after Calcutta celebrated 150 years of tram service.
The transport department officials said services on some routes were stopped as the tracks passed through structurally weak bridges. East-West Metro work forced the closure of some of the routes.
Some others, like the Esplanade-Kidderpore route, much of which runs through the Maidan, have been closed since Cyclone Amphan struck in May 2020.
“The population and vehicular count of Calcutta has multiplied several times but there hasn’t been any significant increase in road space. Calcutta’s road space continues to hover around six per cent which is way less than Mumbai and Delhi,” the minister said.
“In a city like ours where vehicle count is growing by the day, trams remain the most energy-efficient and green mode of transportation,” said Debasish Bhattacharya, president, Calcutta Tram Users’ Association. “How can the state government be reluctant about reviving tram routes?”
Chakraborty said if the high court raised questions on green energy and trams being a non-polluting mode of transportation, the state would argue that the metro railway service, which is being expanded, is pollution-free.
“We already have over a lakh e-vehicles registered in Bengal. There are efforts to rescue carbon footprints as well. But just because trams are also non-polluting can’t be a logic to restore their services,” Chakraborty said.