Kolkata tram, suspended during Durga Puja, yet to resume; tram lovers feel it may never come back

The tram helped people pandal-hop and the tramway ran special services during Durga Puja. This year, for the first time, the tram was completely kept off the roads during the festival because they were seen as an impediment to traffic movement. 
| Photo Credit: PTI

Uncertainly has again blocked the path of the Kolkata tram — already headed for closure unless the court decides otherwise — with orders yet to be issued for resumption of services that were suspended during Durga Puja for the fear of traffic jams.

Both tram staff and enthusiasts fear that such orders may never come and even the three surviving routes, of which only two are functional at the moment, may die like the other once-popular routes and that the 152-year-old mode of transport could have actually met its end this Durga Puja.

Talking to The Hindu, West Bengal Transport Minister Snehasis Chakraborty, while he did not specify whether or when the order to suspend tram services during Durga Puja would be reversed and at the same time said that no steps would be formally taken until the court took a decision, made it very clear that the State Government was no longer interested in keeping the tram alive because it was only adding to Kolkata’s traffic problems.

“Even I am emotional about the tram, even I feel nostalgic about it, but it no longer helps in a massive city like Kolkata, where the road space has hardly increased— just 6% — in comparison to other cities. And in other cities where trams are still active, such as Lisbon, the population density is a few hundred, or at the most a few thousand, people per sq km, whereas Kolkata as 24,000 people per sq km,” Mr. Chakraborty said.

The irony is that while once upon a time, the tram helped people pandal-hop and the tramway ran special services during Durga Puja, this year, for the first time, the tram was completely kept off the roads during the festival because they were seen as an impediment to traffic movement.

Officially, tram movement was to remain suspended from 3 p.m. on October 7 until October 15, 2024. But until the evening of October 17, tram depots were waiting for the order to resume services. At the Gariahat depot, conductor ticketing bags were issued, tram cars were cleaned, but no order came to begin operations.

“The suspension order, issued by traffic police, was clearly purposeful against the tramway; it was an anti-people act. Whether the West Bengal Transport Corporation objected against this immoral act needs to be investigated. Overall, this seems to be a planned protocol to withhold the most popular mode of public transport used by the citizens. The unusual hike of autorickshaw fares during the puja days show how the citizens were exploited,” said Debasish Bhattacharyya, president of Calcutta Tram Users’ Association (CTUA).

CTUA member and urban transport activist Arghyadip Hatua said: “It’s disheartening to see the iconic tram being sidelined during Durga Puja, a time when ​the city celebrates tradition. This reflects a missed opportunity to preserve a vital part of our heritage amidst the celebrations.”