A tram halt in the middle of the road after dedicated tracks were uprooted. With passengers unable to board, revenues have dipped by half.
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Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
Long queues for tramways run buses at the esplanade terminus. Calcutta Tramways Company introduced bus service on the pretext to increase revenues and ended up with an additional Rs 10 crore in operating losses every year.
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Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
The lone traveler on an evening tram is the conductor himself with the proverbial monkey cap on. After Kolkata trams lost its reserved tracks in 2006, passengers find it difficult to board trams plying on the middle of the road.
Read full story: Tram to oblivion
Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
An archival photographs from 1997. Till the early 1990s trams used to cater to an array of passengers. The first car at 4.40 in the morning was staple for those catching a train from the Howrah station; a little later the pious would crowd the tram for a bath in the holy Ganges. The school children escorted by doting mothers, the lawyers and babus roughing it out on crowded trams to reach the office-hub of Dalhousie square- trams were the lifeline before autos, metro and buses became the priority.
A senior citizen tram waiting for renovation at Nonapukur workshop. Calcutta tramway network is over 130 year old.
Read full story: Tram to oblivion
Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
Once the lifeline of public transport, 32 kilometers of tram tracks are now either closed down or temporarily suspended. Passenger associations demand more buses as replacement.
Read full story: Tram to oblivion
Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
A tram moves through the narrow lanes of central Kolkata.
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Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
A tram moves across the Dalhousie square. Negating the global resurgence in trams in the form of light rail, the Calcutta Tramways Company advertises tram as ‘a slow moving electrical reptile… add (ing) to the romance and old world charm.’
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Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
While all major European and south East Asian cities revived their tram networks based on sound economic logic, Kolkata overlooked its advantages: zero pollution, up to 70 years of service life, high speed on dedicated tracks and an unbeatable record of passenger safety.
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Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
The once wooden bodies were converted into steel ones, and recently into the new look transparent polycarbonate body. Commuters complain that the transparent polycarbonate trams- designed at a cost of Rs. 14 lakh per tram- is a pain during the sweltering summer months.
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Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
A lazy afternoon at Galif street terminus.
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Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
With zero investments in modernization, trams still run on 40s technology while fuel guzzlers choke city roads.
Read full story: Tram to oblivion
Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera
Route-boards scattered at the Gariahat tram depot. A former Bengal transport minister once said in a public rally ‘kolkata trams will die a natural death.’
Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera