Kolkata trams
One of the most enduring images of Kolkata is the python like tramcars. Talking of trams in Kolkata, the visions that pass like a kaleidoscope are their trundling with a droning crushing noise often at a speed less than a cyclist’s, the utterly unkempt and dangerous tracks they run on, and of course the lengthy traffic jams they nonchalantly create in peak hours. A change is now on the anvil.
Close to having the tracks concretized after much hemming and hawing, the CTC (or Calcutta Tramways Company) is for the first time in several decades thinking of getting completely new-look tramcars with ‘modern amenities’ made by the Bangalore-based PSU BEML (Bharat Earth Movers Limited). See this Feb 18 news.
Time they improve the fleet. Several well-meaning persona have vociferously opposed phasing out of tramcars from Kolkata, if only for the reasons that they are pollution-free and that they represent Kolkata’s rich heritage. Quite a few cities do have tramcars, for example London, but they’re efficiently managed.
Not so in Kolkata. Let’s hope new fleet rev up flagging morale of CTC personnel. In my opinion, there's a big lacuna in trams becoming the preferred mode of transport in the city. In most places they run in the middle of the road, and there's simply no safe and decent way to board or alight from them without risking being hit by other vehicles. Just this inconvenience pointedly shows how callous the authorities are.
For the record, only Kolkata in India still has tramcars, the first horse drawn service having commenced on Feb 24, 1873 between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat Street. The other 4, Mumbai, Chennai, Nasik and Kanpur, that once had them, discontinued long back. [More reading]
Hanover tram [Picture source]
Double-decker tram in London [Picture source]
Technorati Tags: tram, trams, tramcar, tramcars, kolkata, calcutta
Close to having the tracks concretized after much hemming and hawing, the CTC (or Calcutta Tramways Company) is for the first time in several decades thinking of getting completely new-look tramcars with ‘modern amenities’ made by the Bangalore-based PSU BEML (Bharat Earth Movers Limited). See this Feb 18 news.
Time they improve the fleet. Several well-meaning persona have vociferously opposed phasing out of tramcars from Kolkata, if only for the reasons that they are pollution-free and that they represent Kolkata’s rich heritage. Quite a few cities do have tramcars, for example London, but they’re efficiently managed.
Not so in Kolkata. Let’s hope new fleet rev up flagging morale of CTC personnel. In my opinion, there's a big lacuna in trams becoming the preferred mode of transport in the city. In most places they run in the middle of the road, and there's simply no safe and decent way to board or alight from them without risking being hit by other vehicles. Just this inconvenience pointedly shows how callous the authorities are.
For the record, only Kolkata in India still has tramcars, the first horse drawn service having commenced on Feb 24, 1873 between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat Street. The other 4, Mumbai, Chennai, Nasik and Kanpur, that once had them, discontinued long back. [More reading]
Hanover tram [Picture source]
Double-decker tram in London [Picture source]
Technorati Tags: tram, trams, tramcar, tramcars, kolkata, calcutta
Labels: City Life 1, Culture
2 Comments:
Where in London have you seen trams? The picture that you have posted is certainly not later than the 1950s. Continental Europe has an extensive tram system.
You're right, albeit partially. Trams in London re-commenced in 2000 after about 48 years. Now it's called Tramlink. The picture you refer belongs to the period before 1952.
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