Kolkata Tram: A Sustainable Mode of Mass Transport

Tramcars have been serving the people of Kolkata since its inception in 1880. It has gone through vast modernizations since the time it made its first journey from Sealdah to Armenian Ghat. Surprisingly, the trams are still running on the streets of the City of Joy. With the advent of the auto-mobile boom in the mid-20th century, all other cities in India and many places around the world discarded tram services altogether. Kolkata is currently the only city that has managed to retain its tramways.

The main idea behind running tramcars all over Kolkata was flourished by the necessity of trade and commerce in that area. They used to carry heavy goods from different villages at Sealdah to transport them all over the parts of India through the Railways. Calcutta Tramways Company Limited (CTC) got incorporated under Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Armenian ghat was the unloading station for merchandise and then it was carried forward to Howrah Station through boats or bullock carts. Electric trams emerged in 1902 and the old tracks were altered. Then the first electric tram in Asia started operating from Esplanade to Kidderpore and from Esplanade to Kalighat.

In the present scenario, trams are in a position of retention within the transportation services. Though withdrawal of the tramcars would not be a rational decision since it plays a vital role as a solution for sustainable transport in Kolkata. It carries a large number of passengers efficiently and stands out in comparison to any other mode of transport because of its cheap fare, pollution-free service, and hassle-free journey.

REASON FOR TRAVELING IN A TRAM:

Most people take the tram for personal use. Travelling by tram is cheaper than other types of travel. So, when people are not in a hurry, they like to travel in comfort. Multiple surveys have shown that people prefer to travel by bus, metro, or personal cars on the road for work purposes. Office-goers barely consist 20 percent of the total. People also opt for tram routes for personal purposes like shopping or social visit which make up about 25 percent of the total.

Kolkata exhibits an uncontrolled mix of discordant forms of traffic in its streets, which leads to overtaking, congestion, and consequent accidents. Trams follow the rails and are not responsible for overtaking and defects caused by them, but guarantee safe movement through the busy roads of Kolkata. More than 60 people board tramcars mainly because of the smooth and disciplined movement along the tracks. Other factors that contribute to the choice of a tram as a mode of transportation are extremely low accident rates, low fare structure, and moderately filled bogies. The fact that it is environmentally harmless does not usually govern a person's choice of a permit, although there are quite a few exceptions.

Travelling in cabs is very expensive, not friendly for mass transportation and also pollutes. Buses carry fewer passengers compared to trams and, in some cases, emit huge black smoke causing heavy pollution. And the metro, on the other hand, appears not to pollute and run on electric tracks but contributes to substantial pollution. In this respect, trams stand out in comparison with any other mode of transport in Kolkata due to their distinctive features.

SHOULD TRAMS STAY IN THE TRANSPORT SYSTEM OF KOLKATA? 

The tram network in Kolkata is an invaluable asset that needs maintenance and can’t be discarded for just a few disadvantages. But at the end of the 20th century, insisting that the city take the fast lane, the West Bengal government decided to abolish the tram line. However, other opinions prevailed over transportation, acknowledging that Calcutta trams are meant to remain here. Many European countries abandoned trams in the 1950s and 1960s because they were slow, obsolete, and overloaded are now spending millions of dollars to restore the tracks and bring trams back because they are efficient and economical. State governments have a rare opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others. The network requires reconstruction and modernization to meet the needs of the current transportation services. There would be a feasibility study for the modernization of the CTC conducted by the state government and the ICF Kaiser International Inc.

WHY ARE TRAMS THE ONLY DEPENDABLE SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY TRANSPORT?

In this century, the need for new urban ethics has emerged. By using the concept of sustainable social development that combines social equality, sustainability of the environment, the efficiency of the economy, social integration in a multicultural context. Tram is one of the most efficient sustainable strategies when we talk about mass transportation.

Being run on electricity trams helps in protecting the environment since it does not exert pollution and greenhouse gases and reduces urban pollution. In addition, they run on supplied energy and do not use lithium-ion batteries as other electric vehicles do. Disposing of a large number of these batteries when replacement is needed, will happen once electric vehicles become commonplace, it will present an environmental challenge of its own. Today it stands out as one of the most efficient mass transportations in the world. But recently it has been causing the emission of other motor vehicles to emit more than usual. CO, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides, according to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) have increased rapidly due to slower vehicles speed. Until and unless it moves along the track it is safe and a disciplined system.

NEGLIGENCE

Trams in Kolkata constitute an emission-free mass transport and are not just a heritage or iconic value of Kolkata. At a time when global warming and climate change are at their peak. And Kolkata, along with its border region, is facing massive flooding and heavy rainfall. The state government wants to discard trams.

Kolkata won the C40 award in 2019 for Green Mobility in Copenhagen for the efforts made by the city administration for its public transport electrification. Kolkata mayor and Senior Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim received this prestigious award and said that “to shift Kolkata completely to electric transportation by 2030, Trams would play a vital role. The moment the work going on for the Metro project, which has disrupted the networks of the tram, is over restoration work of the tram system would be resumed. Already, AC tramcars are being built and we are still working on starting the tram services without any conflict in the city’s mobility structure.”

However, so far nothing has been done to revive the existing tram network. On the other hand, tram lines are closed for various reasons. In June 2021, the 2021 Electric Vehicle Policy was released, which surprisingly did not include the word "tram" in the lengthy document even once.

IS THE GOVERNMENT OF KOLKATA DOING ENOUGH TO SAVE THE TRAM SYSTEM BY CHANGING, IMPROVING, AND MODERNISING IT OVER TIME?

Kolkata has an extensive tram network of about 70 km, with efficient access to the central area and good connections to the north and south of the city. This system is the first in Asia and certainly the best in the world in terms of coverage and it has great potential to solve the problem of sustainable transportation for Kolkata in the future. More importantly, the tram rail system provides connections to the city's two main train stations, Howrah and Sealdah, which handle more than 20 lakh passengers daily. Unfortunately, the network was interrupted, but the infrastructure has been preserved and can be easily restored. Many other routes that have been cancelled in the last 5-10 years can also be reopened.

Despite its cultural heritage and artistic aesthetics, Kolkata is now a crowded and polluted city with an inefficient public transport system. The lack of reliable and efficient public transport leads to increased consumption and congestion of vehicles at the border. The ever-increasing number of bridges in the city may seem like the pride of modern Kolkata, but we all know that building more bridges and flyovers to accommodate more vehicles is not a sustainable solution for any city in the long run.

There are enough good reasons why the trams of Kolkata should be saved but it is only possible to restore a dying piece of heritage, the capital-intensive infrastructure if the government of West Bengal paves more attention to this.

There are only five routes (route 24/29 from Tollygunge to Ballygunge, route 5 from Shyambazar to Esplanade, route 25 from BBD Bag to Ballygunge, route 15/12 from Rajabazar Depot to Howrah Station and route 36 is under construction is from Khiderpore to Howrah Station) with less than 40 trams, that can carry approximately 15,000 passengers per day, and are operated by 3,700 staff members. In 2011, there were 37 routes with more than 180 trams that carried about 75,000 passengers a day and were managed by 7,000 people.

Recent developments about the closure of all tram lines in Kolkata are uncomfortable news. While major cities around the world are investing in the tram, streetcar, and light rail projects, people in Kolkata are shutting them down. A large plot of land belonging to the oldest electricity transport system in Kolkata is being sold to private companies. Many residents say government officials have deliberately tried to withdraw the city's old trams in favour of buses and diesel cars, at a time when the city is struggling with pollution four times higher than usual.