150-year-old Kolkata tram service to be discontinued, only functional in Maidan-Esplanade route for heritage joyride

Published on: Sep 25, 2024, 17:46:52 IST

By Adrija Dey

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Kolkata tram is nostalgic and a part of Kolkata's cultural heritage. (Pinterest/@snehalatamitra)

Kolkata tram is set to be discontinued soon due to congestion. However, one route will still be operational.

Kolkata's tram is a cultural heritage of the City of Joy. The 150-year-old tram service is a legacy and a major part of Kolkata’s history. The tram has been a constant in Kolkata’s landscape ever since 1873. Now, the West Bengal government has decided to stop the tram service. However, only one route will remain operational.

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Reason for the discontinuation

Kolkata was the only city in the country that had the tram still in operation. The West Bengal government decided to discontinue the legacy tram service due to difficulties with vehicular traffic. It was challenging for vehicles and trams to share the same road, contributing to congestion and traffic jams, especially during peak hours.

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Heritage route

All the tram routes are being terminated, except for one. The route from Esplanade to Maidaan will still be operational as a joyride to experience the nostalgic tram again. The stretch is picturesque, with stunning views of Victoria Memorial and sprawling, lush greenery. The scenery is beautiful with young kids playing cricket and football in the Maidan. The greenery is a sight to behold, soothing and serene.

Despite being the end of an entire era, you can still sit on the wooden benches and revel in the gentle sway of the tram as it moves forward. The characteristic white-blue colours of the tram cars strike a chord in the Bengali heart, as this mode of transportation became an indispensable part of the Bengali identity.

The rhythmic pattern of the tram wheels almost feels like the city’s heartbeat, poetic and calming. Will you take one last ride?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adrija Dey
Adrija Dey’s proclivity for observation fuels her storytelling instinct. As a lifestyle journalist, she crafts compelling, relatable narratives across diverse touchpoints of the human experience, including wellness, mental health, relationships, interior design, home decor, food, travel, and fashion that gently nudge readers toward living a little better. For her, stories exist in flesh and bones, carried by human vessels and shaped through everyday endeavours. It is the small stories we live and share that make us human. After all, humans and their lores are the most natural and raw repositories of stories, and uncovering them, for her, is akin to peeling an orange under a winter afternoon sun. Always up for a chat, she believes the best stories come from unfiltered yapping, where "too much information" is kind of the point. A graduate of Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, and an alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, Adrija spends her idle hours cocooned with herbal tea and a gripping thriller, scribbling inner monologues she loosely calls poetic pieces, often with her succulents in attendance. On lazier days, she can be found binge-watching, for the nth time, one from her comfort-show holy trinity: The Office (US), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or Modern Family. Dancing by herself to her peppy playlists, however, is an everyday ritual she swears by religiously.Read More

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