Roberto D’Andrea, former tram conductor from Melbourne. | Photo Credit: Bishwanath Ghosh

One cannot be sure whether this man from Melbourne knows Kolkata better than many Kolkatans, even though this is his 30th visit to the city since 1994. But Roberto D’Andrea certainly knows the Kolkata tram far better than present-day Kolkatans, considering that nearly all his visits have been related to his gentle mode of transport.

The brain behind the Tramjatra, a moving tram carnival started in 1996 jointly by trammies (tram enthusiasts) from Melbourne and Kolkata, and who, with the help of this association, helped elevate the condition of the tram in the city, is once again back for yet another edition of Tramjatra, which is celebrating Sunderbans this time.

Only that this time, this former tram driver-conductor from Melbourne isn’t sure how long tram-related events will go on in Kolkata, considering that the current government in West Bengal is not keen on keeping it alive.

“My friends, before I came to India, said to me, ‘There is an old tram system in Kolkata that still survives, could you please have a look and report back because there is a lot of tram enthusiasm in Melbourne?’ So, I am walking down Chowringhee on my first day on Indian soil and I hear the ‘ding, ding’ in the distance at Esplanade. The same one heard in Melbourne!” Mr. D’Andrea, 64, recalled.

The ‘ding, ding’ made by the tram, which had just arrived from the Belgachia depot, led to an instant friendship with its staff and an immediate visit to the depot itself. As a result, a friendship was forged between Belgachia depot and his depot in Melbourne; and before long, Mr. D’Andrea found himself being treated as a champion of the Kolkata tram.

Kolkatans who found this mode of transport going downhill found strength in the support of Melbourne trammies. Thus was born Tramjatra — a creation of the “Bengali spirit”, according to the man from Melbourne.

This year’s event is titled Sunderban Tramjatra, which the organisers—the State Government has nothing to do with it other than loaning a tram — are calling “four days (March 28-31) of celebration and soul-searching about the largest mangrove system on earth and its neighbouring megacity”, considering both have become vulnerable to climate change.

The Mr. D’Andrea-led forging of the bond between Kolkata and Melbourne led to improvement in the tram system in Kolkata. “That was the time when the patronage was very high but the tram system was unreliable because of the infrastructure. Suddenly there would be no electricity,” he said.

It was during the final years of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) rule in West Bengal that things started looking up for the tram, with several tracks relaid. This environment-friendly mode of transport trundled through many happy years after that before the journey downhill began, a devastating blow being dealt by Cyclone Amphan, which led to the shutting of several tracks, never to be restored by a government anyway not keen on saving the tram.

Mr. D’Andrea disagreed with the West Bengal government claim that the tram system no longer worked for a highly populated city of Kolkata, saying, “That does not stand up to the global scrutiny.” But he added that Melbourne too had its share of bad news related to the tram, such as conductors being replaced with ticketing machines.

This former tram conductor, a job he held from 1989 to 1999, is today better known as a tram historian and runs The Connies, a collective of tram conductors, performers, educators, ecologists and nature lovers. And how has he seen Kolkata change from the first visit in 1994 to 2025?

“Many more flyovers — so many more flyovers! That’s a big difference for me. And the car ownership levels are going through the roof. Back then, you would come off the airport at Dum Dum, you come down that main road, you would see wetlands and water. During pre-colonisation days, [they were all] probably a part of the Sunderbans, there must have been mangroves up on the edges of the Hooghly River,” Mr. D’Andrea said.