Bengal govt to discontinue tram service in Kolkata barring one short stretch

Chakraborty said slow-moving trams, which determination on the roads creating postulation jams successful highest hours, cannot beryllium tally successful the contiguous concern arsenic commuters request faster modes of transportation.

“Trams are undoubtedly a portion of Kolkata’s practice aft their instauration successful 1873 arsenic horse-drawn carriages and played a important relation successful proscription successful the erstwhile century.

“But arsenic roads comprise lone 6 per cent of Kolkata’s aboveground country and with summation successful vehicular traffic, we person observed that trams cannot ply the roads on the aforesaid routes astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic it is starring to congestion,” Chakraborty told reporters connected Monday evening.

Chakraborty said arsenic the contented of plying trams is present pending earlier the Calcutta High Court, the authorities authorities volition marque the aforementioned submission successful the adjacent hearing.

The precocious court, portion proceeding a PIL, had connected December 11 past twelvemonth suggested that a public-private concern (PPP) exemplary tin beryllium utilized to reconstruct and rejuvenate tramcar services successful Kolkata. Tram services person already been discontinued on respective routes successful the city.

The curate said contempt having the lowest roadworthy abstraction among metropolitan cities, Kolkata Police person kept postulation flowing adjacent during highest hours.

“To guarantee that radical don’t get precocious to bureau during highest hours owed to postulation jams, we person to instrumentality definite hard measures, including the withdrawal of trams,” helium said.

Heritage trams, however, volition tally betwixt Maidan and Esplanade truthful that radical tin person a pleasant and environment-friendly ride, the curate said.

Responding to a query, helium said that the authorities authorities allows lone those commercialized vehicles to ply the roads that conform to the contamination norms and encourages the usage of electrical vehicles, “which is yielding results”.

Sharply reacting to the state’s announcement, the Calcutta Tram Users Association (CUTA) said it volition clasp demonstrations earlier 5 tram depots crossed the metropolis successful protest.

“We volition not fto it happen. If the authorities authorities is superior astir easing postulation congestion, it tin region encroachment and widen roads. Trams, which are non-polluting, are not slow-moving arsenic their mean velocity is 20-30 kmph, which is the mean velocity of automobiles successful the city,” biology activistic and tram person Somendra Mohan Ghosh told PTI.

Kaushik Das, an relation subordinate of CUTA, said, “If the authorities repairs and ensures regular upkeep of tramcars lying unused successful respective depots for respective years, they tin tally the fleet successful a creaseless manner.” The relation has launched a hashtag run to prevention Kolkata trams.

“We volition commencement a question by this week to prevention trams,” Das added.