Roberto D’Andrea was a Melbourne tram conductor, Now he is the Director
of The Connies, a performance troupe, which has travelled back and forth between India and Australia forging
a cross-cultural commitment to trams— not just as a practical means of transport, but as a way of life. Roberto shares
his views with Abhijit Ganguly.
Kolkata and Melbourne have two rare
surviving tramway systems outside Europe.
Both cities have a love for trams and kept trams running against the trend of the 1960s to abandon them. In India, trams plied the streets
of New Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur
and Chennai. In Australia, Sydney,
Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth once had extensive tram systems. Around the world there has now been a tram renaissance to combat urban air pollution and traffic congestion. Cities in France,
England, Canada, Brazil,
Turkey, Tunisia, the United States and others have rebuilt, or are currently building tramways often
called light rail.
So Melbourne and Kolkata
made the correct decision to retain trams many years ago.
This is my seventh
visit to Kolkata
since 1994 and all visits have had trams and the Calcutta
Tramways Company (CTC) central to the script. With many and varied transport
modes from human drawn rickshaws to a well run underground Metro,
there’s room for trams
in Kolkata’s transport mix.
The CTC was nearly closed
in the early 1990s. On my first visit
to Belgachia Depot
in 1994, I was told by local
trammies that there
was not much time left.
I was glad this changed
after local and international pressure
and by the time I had returned
to Calcutta in 1996 with a travelling tram show there was more hope that trams would have a future in this congested and air polluted
metropolis.
There has been some good work done and cause for optimism. The Nonapukur Tram Workshops
has skilled engineers and tradesman and have built in the last few years more than 25 modern
looking fibreglass trams with high capacity
seating. Catching Calcutta trams in the 1990s and early 2000s was a
bumpy affair with tram tracks having many broken rail joints. Crunch crunch was the often heard and felt sound as the metal wheel
navigated an uneven
and windy monsoon
worn track.
To my pleasant
surprise when I was here for the 2012 Paribesh
Bandhu Tramjatra, I found CTC trams on new tram
track. They were still noisy but with smooth running and much less derailments and faster tram speed. With new tram track
on much of the CTC network I have been happy
to see a big increase
in patronage in North Kolkata
along College St and Bidhan
Sarani from Esplanade to Shambazzar. Sadly the
opposite is the case on the wide roads like APC and AJC Bose Roads. Tram stops where people can safely catch and board a tram are urgently required.
Reserving the tracks and keeping
other vehicles from using tram track on wide
roads like RP Mukerjee Road to Tollygunge will speed up trams and increase reliability. Increasing timetable frequency is also needed so passengers don’t wait long periods of time to catch trams. Ideally a tram
every 10 minutes on popular routes would be a good start. Tram track renewal is still needed in the Maidan,
Sealdah Flyover and other sections
of the CTC network along Elliot Road from Nonapukur Workshops to Wellington. Tram lines open and close in Kolkata.
A most welcome
return is the opening of the
No 29 Tollygunge to Esplanade tram
route via Kalighat, Hazra, Alipore
and Kidderpore in south Kolkata. Had some wonderful Tramjatra journeys in the south
most notably with the much loved Usha Uttup singing on the Sundari tram in 2001.
I look forward to Rash Behari Avenue opening and once again seeing trams in the Ballygunge Goompty.
This is a vital link between the Metro and Ballygunge Rail Station.
I believe
Kolkata needs a tram museum so visitors are given the opportunity to see the
history of Calcutta’s trams.
An audit is urgently required so the CTC
can preserve the last of the British wooden bodied trams and beautifully built
Hati Gari trams.
Rabindranath Tagore’s tribute tram, Gitanjali was a Hati Gari tram number 498 built in the early 1940s
at Nonapukur. I am confident that tram enthusiasts would come to Kolkata to see a display of CTC trams
in one of the world’s great cities.
Kalighat Tram Depot would
make a great Tram Museum located near Kalighat Metro stop and
Kali Temple.
"Over the twenty
years of Tramjatra it has become
clear that the guiding values of international friendship, care for the environment and a universal
respect and appreciation for all human life were also values championed by Rabindranath Tagore
a hundred years
ago. There’s
something about being on a Kolkata tram that is very relaxing despite the clatter
and outside noise
from buses, cars and autos. There’s also something about the internal
environment of trams that promotes human interaction. It makes for a fascinating performance space. Tram networks
are being revived
around the world.
Cities in Europe which previously removed their networks
are now reinstalling
them at great cost. Kolkata undoubtedly needs trams. Not only because they are the only form of mass transit that does not create air pollution but because trams
also emphasize our common humanity."
Polash Larsen, Bengali-Australian
cultural activist based in Australia
