Road engineers recently found remnants of over five-decade-old tram tracks in Tardeo in South Mumbai, following which the civic-run BEST has decided to display them at its museum.
Earlier in February 2016, remains of tram tracks were found underneath a road in south Mumbai during excavation near the Bombay High Court building and later it was displayed at a museum of BEST.
BEST is the transport-wing of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
“Like we did in February 2016, when we found the remnants of the tram tracks, this time too we are going to place it in the (BEST) museum,” Anil Kokil, Chairman of the BEST committee said.
Last Sunday, road engineers who were at work to widen and concretise the road near the Tardeo bus depot, discovered the tram tracks with points and crossovers and alarmed the authorities.
“The remnants would be kept safe and its important parts will be displayed to the BEST transport museum at Anik in Wadala,” Kokil said.
Trams have been the essential part of the city’s public transport system which began operations in 1874 and were shut in 1964, over fifty years ago.
“Such remnants are Mumbai’s treasure and our upcoming generations must know about it. Trams were always a pleasure to travel in and such recoveries keep us reminding of those golden years,” added Kokil.
Kunal Tripathi, who runs campaign on social media titled ‘Mumbai Heritage’, said,”Trams once served crowded areas like Tardeo, Kalbadevi and Pydhonie and were a major and cheaper mode of public transport here”
“They were slow, sturdy and had their own charm. As the number of private vehicles grew, it became difficult for trams to operate and they became more of a nuisance than help and the BEST decided to discontinue them,” added Tripathi.
