Meals on wheels: The spruced-up tram cars can seat 27 guests per trip. Kolkata now has only five routes. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement more-in In a unique initiative to celebrate Kolkata’s tram services, a restaurant in a moving tramcar was unveiled on Saturday. From October 14, a yellow double bogie tram will travel from Shahid Minar in central Kolkata to Kidderpore, passing through one of the city’s more picturesque stretches, the verdant Maidan, while taking patrons on a culinary journey. The Victoria Tramcar restaurant will make four trips of about two hours each, over lunch and dinner. “We will offer two rides during lunch time and two during the evening,” said Sanjiv Goswami, director of The Victoria group, a restaurant operator that has secured the rights to run the tramcar dining service. “For Pujas, we are offering an additional fifth service from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.” Mr. Goswami said that the tram’s interiors had been designed to accommodate 27 guests per trip. The menu would feature authentic Bengali cuisine, he added. State Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who inaugurated the service, described it as a “gift to the people of the city” before Durga Puja In a bid to ensure the sustainability of tram services, moves have been initiated to tie up with well known retail brands by offering them renovated tramcars to exhibit and sell their merchandise. Once a major form of public transport, the slow moving trams are no longer the city commuter’s preferred choice . Dwindling service From more than 52 routes spanning 70 km in the 1960s, tram services now operate on only five routes covering 17 km. “Instead of focusing on making trams a place of recreation, we can make trams a real mode of communication,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment..

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