'Tram World' set to offer sneak peak into Kolkata culture

The "Tram World" of Kolkata got a new lease of life on the occasion of 140th anniversary of the Calcutta Tramways Company. The West Bengal Transport Corporation claimed it to be unique, where people will get an opportunity to soak themselves in a myriad of interests like art, music and heritage.

Kolkata: The city on Tuesday got its ''Tram World'', a concept that its makers West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) claimed to be unique in the world, where people will get an opportunity to soak themselves in a myriad of interests like art, music and heritage, an official said.

Marking the 140th anniversary of the Calcutta Tramways Company which was registered in London on December 22, 1880, Tram World Kolkata (TWK) was inaugurated in the city, which has the country's only operational tram services.

The TWK, which has come up at Gariahat depot in south Kolkata, has been conceptualised by West Bengal Transport Corporation, the official said.

The country's only operational tram services are in Kolkata

"Old trams have been transformed and people can visit the TWK and immerse themselves in art, love for tramcars, music, food and a place to hang around. The idea is to attract young people to Kolkata's culture", said WBTC managing director Rajanvir Singh Kapur.

It will be open for public from December 23 for eight hours from 10 am and a ticket will cost Rs 30.

The TWK is being positioned not as a museum but a place which will evoke nostalgia about yesteryears when trams were the mainstay of the public transport system in the city, he said.

The TWK has converted old tram bogeys, some of them built in 1938, and turned them into zones of art, music, photos, museum and food, the WBTC official said.

It has a special section for vintage cars, curated by the Classic Drivers Club, Kolkata.

Congratulating WBTC for its initiative, Nick Low, British Deputy High Commissioner to Kolkata, said that TWK will be another jewel in the city''s world-class cultural heritage.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) director-general Ajay Mathur said, the TWK will create awareness about the role of trams in providing an affordable and non-polluting mode of transport in the present world and the need for reviving and preserving them.

WBTC officials and the friends of TWK worked hard to convert the scrapyard at the backside of the tram depot to set up Tram World Kolkata in just 41 days, to make it ready for people on the 140th anniversary of Calcutta Tramways Company, the official said.

(PTI)