KOLKATA: In a first for the city of joy, a tram parade consisting of at least seven to eight historic trams will be conducted from Nonapukur tram depot via Gariahat to Esplanade sometime between February 24 to March 2 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the tramways in Kolkata.
The first tram plied in the city on February 24, 1873.
The tram parade is being organised by the Tramjatra in collaboration with the West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) and Calcutta Tram Users Association (CTUA), amongst other organisations.
According to Mahadeb Shi, who is the co-founder of
Tramjatra, the date of the parade has not been confirmed as they are yet to take permission from the police.
A week-long celebration of Calcutta tramways’ legacy will be celebrated from February 24 to March 2. The tram parade will be conducted on one of these days.
As a warm-up to the main event, an opening ceremony was organised on Saturday in the presence of Managing Director of WBTC, Rajanvir Singh Kapur, Deputy Consul General of Australia, Daniel Sim, Consul General of Germany, Manfred Auster and Convenor of INTACH Kolkata chapter, GM Kapur.
The ceremony was held at Tram World Cafe, which was recently inaugurated by the state transport minister, Snehasis Chakraborty, as a gift to the people of this city.
Adjacent to the cafe is a section that has a collection of trams from different time periods, including the 1975 and 1980 tram models.
During the ceremony, Kapur reiterated the decisions taken by the corporation to include value-added services in the existing tram routes including the library, and jute displays, amongst others.
He shared insight on the background of the tram museum and said that two years ago, he had found the space occupied with broken alcohol bottles and grasses.
It was then that he ordered that the place be cleaned and utilised to display tram models and pictures of trams from across the world. Kapur said: “With this, these trams will no longer be just scraps. Some of them had become mechanically and economically unviable to run.”