The Calcutta Tram Users’ Association (CTUA) will hold a demonstration on Sunday at the Kidderpore tram depot to demand, among other things, the restoration of the most scenic route, which has remained suspended ever since Cyclone Amphan struck two years ago.
“At present, only two routes (no. 25 and no. 24/29) are operational. This dismal state of affairs goes directly against the opinion of experts and a section of bureaucrats who agree that trams, alongside electric vehicles, can play a key role in reducing the city’s carbon footprint and significantly aid in its fight against climate change,” the CTUA said in a statement.
Apart from the restoration of the scenic route no. 36, which connected Kidderpore and Esplanade and cut through the Maidan, the demonstration, the statement said, would also demand resumption of route numbers 5 and 18 within six months; the resumption of all routes closed due to metro work at BBD Bag; and the immediate recruitment and training of tram drivers.
“The tram is not just nostalgia but a solution to clean air and green mobility for Kolkata. At the time when the whole world is reintroducing trams as a sustainable mass transit system, we are trying to get rid of it in the name of speed and efficiency, that too when Kolkata’s average traffic speed is only 15 km/hour,” said filmmaker Mahadeb Shi, a founding member of the CTUA, which was started by activists in 2016 and has a considerable presence on social media.
“For a city that has mirrored the ups and downs of this century — having gone from being the ‘second city of the British empire’ to becoming synonymous with the ultimate in urban horror — the tram has been one constant factor, a comforting presence, a pacifier, helping people to retain a sense of normalcy and sanity in the face of chaos and collapse,” said Mr. Shi, whose acclaimed documentaries include those made on the iconic Kolkata tram.
