The state government has sought details of the proposed interchange at Esplanade Metro station from the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), the implementing agency of East-West Metro, so it can decide on relaying cables for the Kidderpore-Esplanade tram route.

The 30,000sqm station at Esplanade will be the country’s second deepest after the one below Howrah station and will have an interchange that allows access to the existing north-south Metro corridor and the Joka-Esplanade line that is under construction.

Metro Railway has decided to shift Bidhan Market at Esplanade to facilitate the construction of the Joka-Esplanade corridor.

Transport department officials said they had asked for details from the RVNL about the possible date of opening of the Esplanade station of the East-West route and the kind of work that will continue around the station complex for the Joka-Esplanade line. The transport department also wants to know whether work on all electrical installations has been completed.

“This information is crucial for laying overhead cables for trams. If we have to revive the Esplanade-Kidderpore route, the overhead cables must have 24X7 power supply. We don’t want these cables to come in the way of construction activity for the Esplanade station,” said an official in the transport department.

“It will be difficult to revive the tram route unless we are certain that the tram cables will not pose any threat to the ongoing work at Esplanade.”

Police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) have recently agreed to restore the Kidderpore-Esplanade tram route, which cuts through the Maidan.

Mayor Firhad Hakim had said after a coordination meeting on restoration of trams last Friday that the state government was keen on running trams on the Kidderpore-Esplanade route.

“The biggest challenge is restoring the overhead cables along the 5km tram route, which were damaged when Cyclone Amphan had struck in May 2020. The cables will cost over Rs 1.5 crore and if we stop power supply when trams are not moving, they may get stolen,” an official in the transport department said. “So once restored, the cables will have continuous power supply.”

Tram lovers have demanded that besides the Kidderpore-Esplanade route, services be restored on the Galiff Street-Esplanade, Dalhousie-Shyambazar and Rajabazar-Dalhousie routes.