VIDEOS
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| Above: YouTubeCA video - Kolkata Tram – Kolkata Will Miss Its 143 year old beloved companion, Kolkata Tram - Length: 8:22 mins. | Above: YouTubeCA video - Calcutta's Trams - Length: 7:26 mins. |
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| Above: YouTubeCA video - New Tram-restaurant is winning Kolkata’s heart - Length: 1:44 mins. | Above: YouTubeCA video - Kolkata Metro Rail Documentary - Length: 21:19 mins. |
PHOTOS
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MAP
I created the above map by overlaying an OpenStreetMap (OSM) map with my own data. Copyright on the OSM map is © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under a CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence).
Please note that the OSM map used as a template for this map corresponds to the situation at the time the map was downloaded and may show features that did not exist at the time the GS Tram Site is supposed to show. In particular, it may show bridges and highways that were built later.
ROUTES
TRAM ROUTES
Operator: West Bengal Transport Corporation
| 5 | Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Bidhan Sarani - Shyambazar |
| 24/29 | Tollyganj - Kalighat - Ras Bihari Av. - Baliganj Depot |
| 25 | Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Rd. - Elliot Rd. - Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Rd. - Mother Teresa Sarani - Syed Amir Ali Av. - Gariahat Depot |
METRO ROUTES
Operator: Metro Railway Kolkata
| 1 | Dakshineswar - Noapara - Dum Dum - Belgachhia - Shyambazar - Mahatma Gandhi Rd. Stn - Central Metro - Esplanade - Rabindra Sadan - Kalighat - Tollyganj - Kavi Subhash (New Garia) |
| 2 | Sealdah - Phoolbagan - Salt Lake Sector V. |
| 3 | Taratala - Joka |
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM
NETWORK LENGTH
- Trams: ca. 20 km.
- Metro: 47.8 km.
OLD STREET NAMES
Many Kolkata streets have been renamed at some point since independence, but the old names have retained some currency. I tried to use the new names consistently on all maps, even if the old names were used at the time. For the convenience of users I provide both the new and the old names in parallel in the list below:
- Hemanta Basu Sarani - Old Court House St.
- Mother Theresa Sarani - Park Street
- Rajib Gandhi Sarani - Strand Road
- Syed Amir Ali Avenue - Gariahat Road
In some cases, the new street name is simply an adjustment of an anglicized name according to the standardized transliteration of a name in the Bangla (Bengali) language. The list below provides such street names when the new name is significantly different from the old one:
- Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Road - A.J.C Bose Road
- Bipin Bihari Gangopadhyay St. - B.B. Ganguly Street
- Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - B.B.D. Bagh
- Nirmal Chandra Street - Nirmal Sunder Street
HISTORY
- Horse tramways: 1873; 1 Nov. 1880 - 1905
- Steam tramways: 1898 - 1900
- Electric tramways: 1902 - today.
- Underground (Metro): 24 Oct. 1984 - today.
GAUGE
- Tramways: originally 1000 mm, but from 1900: 1435 mm (standard gauge).
- Underground (Metro): 1676 mm (broad gauge [Indian standard on railways]) (lines 1 & 3); 1435 mm. (line 2).
SOURCES
- Claydon, G.B. "Calcutta revisited - Part 1: The present scene (administration, finance and traffic)", Modern Tramway & Light Rail Transit, Jan. 1982 (45: 529), p.10-18.
- Dean, R.N. "Tramways in Calcutta today", The Modern Tramway, June-July 1945 (8: 90-91), p.41, 46, 49, 51.
- Runnacles, T.V. "Transport in Calcutta - Part 7: Aspects of tramway operation today", Modern Tramway & Light Rapid Transit, Feb. 1978 (41: 482), p.49-60.
- Russell, M. "Calcutta: Trams still thriving - but for how much longer", Tramways & Urban Transit, May 2006 (69: 821), p. 176-179.
- Russell, M. "Kolkata tramways: A modest revival?", Tramways & Urban Transit, Aug. 2011 (74: 884), p. 321-324.
- Russell, M. "Surviving by a thread", Tramways & Urban Transit, June 2023 (86: 1026), p. 244-245.
WIKIS
WEB SITES
Thanks to Ashis Mitra (from Kolkata, India) for the large amount of information he has kindly given me about the history of tramways in his city. He has also made corrections to pages I had already placed on my site.
Thanks are also in order to Lars F. Richter (from Hamburg, Germany), who kindly sent me information on the new terminal arrangements at Binay Badal Dinesh Baag.
Copyright Gabor Sandi 1998-2024
Disclaimer: Everything on this site was written and/or prepared at the author's discretion. The author has tried to be accurate where facts are presented, but this does not mean that these facts are necessarily accurate. People needing more reliable information should refer to appropriate sources presented, on the Internet or elsewhere, by authoritative professional or academic bodies.
To get in touch with the webmaster, send an e-mail to g_sandi at hotmail.com.
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