The end of the bell lap for Kolkata’s tramway

Contemporary Turkish playwright, novelist and thinker Mehmet Murat ildan may be a little bit fascinated with trams. He said, “Cities who do not have trams always look less literary, less poetic, and less mysterious!” Well, 60 years after Bombay bid adieu to its trams (1964), the passenger tramway in Kolkata, India’s last remaining network, has come to an end 151 years after its introduction. West Bengal’s administrative authorities contend that trams cause unnecessary congestion on roads that are increasingly difficult to manage. A small stretch from Maidan to the Esplanade, however, will be retained as a heritage for tram lovers for occasional time-machine rides.

Interestingly, in September 2021, The New York Times ran a piece titled “Kolkata’s ‘Fairy Tale’ Trams, Once Essential, Are Now a Neglected Relic”. Although the tramway system makes sense for a city of 1.5 crore people experiencing congestion and pollution, “many trips now are more nostalgic than necessary,” it argued. Then, in 2023, Kolkata commemorated 150 years of tram services in the city. However, at the moment, its death sentence was virtually heard.

A symbol of the city

If the Victoria Memorial characterises Kolkata’s skyscape, the trams became a visual landmark of its cityscape. Further, the sluggishness of the trams somewhat complemented the city’s languid pace. The first horse-drawn trams in India travelled just 3.9 km in 1873, from Sealdah to Armenian Ghat in Kolkata. Kolkata’s trams were discontinued in 1880. Then the first electric tramcar in Asia made its debut in Kolkata in 1902, completely changing the city’s public transportation system. It gained popularity as a means of public transit, serving as a link between different areas of the city and beyond, such as the Howrah section, which was connected by the Howrah Bridge.

In 2020, Kolkata also launched a tram library in a four-and-a-half-kilometre stretch between Shyambazar and Esplanade, past the iconic “boi para” (colony of books) of its College Street neighbourhood. Kolkata loved it because it combined two of its favourite things: books and trams.

Meanwhile, the tram’s popularity started to steadily diminish in the 1970s. Ridership fell from 9,50,000 in 1965 to 7,41,000 in 1971, according to an assessment in 1972 by the Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation. Trams added to traffic congestion as cars and buses became more prevalent on the narrow streets. And tram services have been declining for the previous few decades due to low maintenance, a lack of investment, and a steep reduction in passenger volume. Trams in full-scale operation do, however, make sense for a city that is dealing with congestion and pollution. The emission-free trams, which are powered by overhead electric wires rather than diesel-fuelled buses and private vehicles, are a better option in an era of mounting concerns about climate change. Moreover, the tram was, surely, an integral part of the city’s cultural heritage and political fabric too. A historic protest movement led by Jyoti Basu and others in Kolkata in 1953 in response to a one-paisa increase in tram fares in the second class is an important chapter of the State’s political history.

A cultural icon

The tram in Kolkata truly connects people’s everyday life with literature, music, film, and photography. In Mahanagar, a 1963 film directed by Satyajit Ray, the tram is portrayed as a representation of the monotony and tedium of the city. Moreover, the tram has appeared in some other films directed by legendary directors such as Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and Buddhadeb Dasguta.

In Tagore’s poem, Swapna (Dream), the tram carriage is rushing down Calcutta’s roads, which have turned into a snake. “I walk along the tram line: night now deep/I hear the teasing of some life of the past:/‘You are like a broken tram—/ there is no depot, you don’t need wage/Alas, when has this occurred!’/That old life sinks behind/The star in the sky, in darkness,” wrote poet Jibanananda Das (translation by Faizul Latif Chowdhury). Sunil Gangopadhyay compared the emotions of his fictitious muse, Neera, to a tram’s movement in one of his poems. Neera becomes extremely disturbed when the tram is forced to stop.

Networks elsewhere and a revival

There were trams in a number of other Indian cities, such as Bombay, Delhi, Madras, and Poona. The rise in buses and private vehicles — and speed — in these cities in the 20th century led to a fall in the tram systems. On the other hand, Europe boasts a vast array of tramway networks, some of which have been modernised to light rail standards with enhanced speed. These networks are referred to as metro ligeiro in Portugal, sneltram in the Netherlands, Stadtbahn in Germany, premetros in Belgium, and fast trams in certain countries. Trams were reintroduced in Paris in 1992 and in Luxembourg City in 2017. While the Melbourne tramway network in Australia is the world’s largest operational urban tram network and one of the most used, with 250 kilometres of double tram track, Vienna’s network is among the largest in the world with its 173.4 km of track.

However, one may argue that Indian cities are more populated. But there are examples of cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, which are also experiencing a revival of tram networks. Furthermore, Hong Kong’s century-old tram system has not only endured but has evolved and modernised, covering a sizable portion of the city.

Hence, Kolkata certainly had an alternative, possibly more eco-friendly and effective, by revitalising, modernising, and expanding the tramway network rather than dismantling it. Mehmet Murat ildan might think that the city instead opted to become less literary, less poetic, and less mysterious.

Atanu Biswas is Professor of Statistics, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata