Two youths killed as motorcycle rams into guardrail at flyover in Kolkata
Two youths were killed as a motorcycle they were riding on rammed into a guardrail at a flyover in Kolkata on Sunday morning.
The city’s iconic transport system, its tramways, which has become quite an attraction after undergoing a cool makeover recently, is soon to have a larger fleet.
The West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) is working on plans to roll out ten more air-conditioned trams within this year. The existing fleet, according to sources in WBTC, has around 33 new and old trams running on different routes of the city.
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The ten new trams being manufactured in the Nonapukur Workshop will soon trundle along the city routes. The first fleet of AC trams was rolled on the tracks in the month of March last year and since then have become one of the choicest transport systems on their route.
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The 36 ft long single-bogie tram running in Shyam Bazar and Esplanade, one of the busiest routes of the city, became a huge draw among commuters. Despite higher fares than non-AC trams, the cool bogies became a star, attracting large numbers of passengers while generating better revenues.
Since their maiden journey, the single-coach trams have brought new hope not only for WBTC, but also for the lovers of the city’s most iconic vintage transport. As the single bogies do not add to the traffic, are faster and require fewer manpower to run, the WBTC has schemes of reviving some of the routes in the city.
According to sources, the WBTC started the revamp work of a 800 m stretch of tracks in various directions from Esplanade, which is a major junction of tram services. Once completed, the network will enable connectivity to and from Nonapukur tram depot, Shyam Bazar, Belgachhia and so on.
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