Transport Minister Snehasis Chakraborty, as a consultant of the West Bengal authorities, has introduced that the enduring Kolkata trams shall be discontinued quickly. Nevertheless, they’ve determined to proceed the solitary heritage stretch from Maidan to Esplanade. Kolkata is the one metropolis left in India that also operates, and not too long ago celebrated its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary.This has damage individuals’s sentiments and lots of the tram lovers have determined to protest in opposition to the choice. Chakraborty stated that the slow-moving trams are inconvenient as commuters want quicker modes of transport.
Now thought of slow-paced and outdated, when the trams had been launched in Kolkata for the primary time, they had been a well-liked mode of transport. The very first trams, launched in 1873 within the British capital Calcutta, had been horse-drawn. They operated on the three.8 km path between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat Avenue. Nevertheless, they had been discontinued inside a 12 months because of financial points.
In 1874, these horse-driven tramcars had reached Bombay and traveled alongside two paths—Colaba to Pydhonie by way of Crawford Market, and Bori Bunder to Pydhonie. Slowly, the tram taxis began working in Nashik alongside an 8 km path and in 1886, tramcars had been in style in Patna, Bihar. Nevertheless, these automobiles weren’t viable as they required an excessive amount of horse labor.
The trams in Calcutta had been revived by Lord Ripon in 1880, on account of which The Calcutta Tramway Firm experimented with pulling these trams utilizing steam locomotives to make them economically viable. Whereas the velocity of the tramcars improved, it introduced with it one other set of issues like air pollution. This grew to become one of many the explanation why different states by no means transitioned their trams from horse-drawn to steam locomotives.
In 1895, Madras (present-day Chennai) launched the nation’s first-ever electrical tramcars. These autos linked the town’s coastal areas with the inland areas. They had been higher than the steam-powered trams, as they produced much less noise and fewer air pollution. Calcutta too upgraded its trams to electric-powered ones by 1902—with the primary one plying between Esplanade and Kidderpore, and Esplanade and Kalighat.
Slowly, tram strains had been inbuilt Kanpur, Delhi, and Bombay too. However this glory was not long-lived. Owing to raised alternate transport means, and financial viability, the trams slowly began dying. Patna was the primary metropolis to discontinue trams in 1903, citing causes of low ridership. Then got here Nashik and Kanpur in 1933, Madras in 1953, adopted by Delhi and Bombay in 1963 and 1964 respectively. Kolkata was the one metropolis that didn’t sever its ties with the previous. For 150 years, the trams transported individuals and items throughout the town. Nevertheless, plainly Bengal too has given up on these outdated, sluggish trams, which served as a cultural id for Kolkata for therefore lengthy.
