KOLKATA: The city will lose a slice of its Raj-era heritage in its search for better connectivity . The twin heritage tram depots at Esplanade and Dalhousie are set to be shut down as KMRC began work on the Esplanade station of East-West Metro corridor. Along with the depots, two tram tracks -Esplanade to Dalhousie and Dalhousie to Sealdah -will be decommissioned. Though KMRC assured that the suspension is only for three years, apprehensions remained about whether the depots and the routes will ever be revived."West Bengal Transport Corporation (formerly Calcutta Tramways Company or CTC) agreed to relocate the tram tracks at Esplanade after we approached them with the in-principle approval from the ministry of defence (MoD) on vacating land for the Metro station. They have also agreed to suspend the Dalhousie tram route," said an official of Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation (KMRC), which is executing the East-West Metro corridor project. KMRC will shortly start building the station on the western si de of Curzon Park, predominantly in the trams' circulation area."According to the plan, instead of making elaborate movements across Curzon Park, the different tram routes will have smaller loops for return trips," a West Bengal Transport Corporation officer told TOI. For instance, the route from Kidderpore to Es planade will form a loop inside Esplanade tram complex and carriages will return from here instead of going on to Curzon Park.Similarly, north Kolkata-bound trams will form an `S' loop at Esplanade for the return trip. The trams will return to the original routes once the Esplanade station's construction is complete.Construction of tunnels below Dalhousie Square are likely to take off in August and will go on for the next three years. Rites, a consultancy firm under the Indian Railways, calculated the estimated loss at Rs 20.5 crore, but KMRC has agreed to make a onetime compensatory payment of Rs 9.5 crore, which the state accepted.Currently , there are 30 trips on seven routes to and from the Dalhousie tram depot. In the past, when tram services were suspended, the authorities had claimed it was temporary .But some of these routes disappeared forever. Atreyee Sengupta, a history student at Calcutta University , said: "Trams are our biggest asset. But several routes have disappeared in the name of development. I hope that once the Esplanade station for the East-West lne is built, the tram routes are revived."West Bengal Transport Corporation chief engineer P K Mitra, however, assured: "This route will be back in its previous form after KMRC completes construction of the Esplanade station."The city's first commercial tram service started on November 1, 1880, from Armenian Ghat to Sealdah on horse-drawn carriages through Strand Road, Dalhousie and B B Ganguly Street. Even five years ago, trams circled around Dalhousie at Laldighi. It was later withdrawn from the northern side of Laldighi to make way for the underground parking plaza opposite Writers' Buildings.

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