Technical partners like DMRC will be roped in for implementation of the tram project
In a bid to revive a part of the lost heritage of Delhi, lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung has approved a proposal which will pave the way for trams to ply on the streets of Delhi again.
The details and designs of the proposal will be submitted to the Unified Traffic & Transportation Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering) Centre to be chaired by the lieutenant-Governor himself next week. Tenders will be issued to invite investment proposals in this regard.
Trams, that were an important mode of public transport in Chandni Chowk till around 1963, were discontinued simply because there was no space for them due to the growing number of vehicles in the city.
PWD officials told The Pioneer that “apart from trams, the proposal involves introducing lanes for non-motorised vehicles and 50 per cent of the area will be reserved for pedestrian pathways. Vehicular traffic will be restricted in the area.” As part of the redevelopment plan, trams will be introduced on a 2.5-km-long stretch to connect Subhash Marg with Fatehpuri Masjid.
“The tram service will connect the stretch linking Red Fort with Fatehpuri Masjid and will run alongside wide footpaths,” sources said. Technical partners like Delhi Metro Rail Corporation ltd (DMRC) would be roped in for implementation of the tram project.
The Sheila Dikshit Government in its manifesto had promised to introduce trams again in Delhi to showcase its heritage. The Delhi Government’s Transport Policy 2002, approved by the Cabinet, suggested a high-tech tram corridor in the national Capital to end commuters’ woes.
As per the policy document, the Government had proposed to make Mehrauli in South Delhi as the light Rail Transit hub and run three lines connecting Badarpur, Dwarka and Delhi Secretariat with it in the first phase.
Introduced in Delhi on 6 March 1908 at the behest of Viceroy lord Hardinge, trams faded into oblivion in the ‘60s outdone by modern means of transport and increasing traffic.
In 1921, the popularity of trams was at its peak but soon after there was a general strike in which the tramways were also badly affected and this probably led to rethinking and introduction of city buses for an expanding Delhi a decade or so later. However, trams were discontinued mainly because of a space crunch and growing number of vehicles.
According to old timers, tram tickets were priced at half an anna, one anna, two annas and four annas, the price for the longest route. (An anna was a currency unit formerly used in India, equal to 1/16th of a rupee.) “The trams used to move so slowly that people could easily jump off, buy biryani and snacks and then board the tram again,” recalled one elderly citizen.