As galore arsenic 50 schoolchildren from the Sundarbans volition statesman their Durga Puja play with a peculiar tram thrust successful Kolkata connected Sunday (September 21, 2025).
The thought is to convey the connection to the nationalist that the tram, arsenic nationalist transport, was a beardown limb against planetary warming, thing that was already harming the mangroves and would soon interaction adjacent Kolkata.
“The wellness of the Sundarbans and the aboriginal of its radical beryllium connected some mangrove roots and tram routes. Just arsenic the mangroves look the menace of extinction, truthful does the Kolkata tram. This ceremonial travel connected the auspicious juncture of Mahalaya is driven by relationship and a shared committedness to endurance and sustainability,” said filmmaker Mahadeb Shi, co-founder of Tramjatra, a moving tram carnival started successful 1996 jointly by tram enthusiasts from Melbourne and Kolkata, which is organising the event.
The children are from Bijoynagar Adarsha Vidyamandir successful Gosaba, who volition stock their stories during the tram journey. The ride, starting astatine 10.30 a.m., volition statesman and extremity astatine the Gariahat depot aft a thrust done Esplanade and Shyam Bazar. Attendees are apt to see filmmaker Goutam Ghosh and ‘mangrove man’ Umashankar Mondal.
This is the 2nd lawsuit that Tramjatra is conducting this year, successful spite of the tram present astir disappearing from Kolkata’s ecosystem. The 1 conducted successful March, called Sundarban Tramjatra, was besides related to creating consciousness astir redeeming the mangroves. This 1 is called Sharadiya Tramjatra, oregon autumn tram ride.
“Back then, erstwhile our friends from Melbourne visited Kolkata for 2 weeks, galore asked whether the tram would 1 time question to the Sundarbans. Today erstwhile the tram tracks are astir erased from Kolkata, the thought of a tram travel into the mangroves remains a utopia. So, we chose to bring the children of Sundarbans to Kolkata connected a voyage of shared purpose,” Mr. Shi said.
He added, “For this purpose, we person hired a double-bogie tram, no. 256, which was decorated and utilized during the Sundarban Tramjatra successful March. We are thankful to the collaboration with our Melbourne friends and Sundarbans residents. Together, we observe not conscionable the tram but Mother Earth, pledging to defender her against greenhouse gases, and to physique our imagination of a clean, green, climate-safe future. This volition beryllium a precise peculiar travel of practice and hope.”
The Kolkata tram, much than 150 years old, is astir extinct, with the West Bengal authorities not hiding its dislike for this environment-friendly mode of transport, considering it an obstruction to traffic, and truthful taking nary measurement to support it alive. Only 2 routes, Esplanade-Gariahat and Esplanade-Shyam Bazar past today, and the aboriginal of the iconic tram present depends wholly connected the court.
“These children person ne'er seen oregon travelled successful the tram. They astir apt don’t adjacent cognize what the tram is. They whitethorn person astatine the astir seen pictures. We anticipation to make consciousness among them astir the benefits of a strategy similar the tram, and that they spell backmost location and archer their radical however electrical vehicles are bully for the environment,” said Indranil Banerjee, an electrical technologist with Indian Railways who besides belongs to the Calcutta Tram Users’ Association, whose members volition besides beryllium a portion of Sunday’s (September 21, 2025) event.
