While the easing of liquor curbs sent the city swinging into year-end festive mood, there’s more good news in store. The revellers would get to ride the newest public transport-single-bogie trams-come Christmas and New Year.
The state-run Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC) is geared to roll out the newage trams in time for the year-end festivities. To be flagged off on Christmas Eve (December 24), the trams are currently being lent the finishing touches at the CTC’s Nonapukur workshop.
Post the launch, the CTC would initially run the single-bogie, non air-conditioned trams on the Rajabazar-Dharmatala route via BBD Bag. The cost of the project to develop these single-bogie vehicles comes to Rs. 9 lakh. While the double-bogey trams, which have for long been counted among the most prominent symbols of the city’s heritage, have also been held as one of the primary contributors to traffic snarls on critical arterial stretches, CTC officials have claimed that the newest avatar of the heritage city transport are a lot faster and hence have better maneuverability to avoid traffic jams.
“One of the primary reasons to roll out the single-bogie trans is to offset the scourge of traffic snarls. While only one such tram would be launched on December 24, more could likely follow should we get encouraging feedback from passengers,” Shantilal Jain, CTC chairman, told HT. The CTC had previously used these single-bogie variants to clear tram tracks from across the city, and the same structural design has been retained to roll out such trams as a mode of public transport.
{{/usCountry}}“One of the primary reasons to roll out the single-bogie trans is to offset the scourge of traffic snarls. While only one such tram would be launched on December 24, more could likely follow should we get encouraging feedback from passengers,” Shantilal Jain, CTC chairman, told HT. The CTC had previously used these single-bogie variants to clear tram tracks from across the city, and the same structural design has been retained to roll out such trams as a mode of public transport.
{{/usCountry}}CTC sources further said that the single-bogie variants could in time replace the ageing double-bogey fleet, should they evoke a favourable response from passengers.