The city police want Dufferin Road, the thoroughfare that connects Outram Road with Mayo Road and RR Avenue, and cutting through the Maidan, widened by de-reserving the existing tram tracks.

At a recent meeting on road safety held in Lalbazar, Rupesh Kumar, the joint commissioner of Kolkata Traffic Police, asked senior PWD officials to de-reserve the tracks so the road’s width can be increased and vehicles can move faster after taking a turn from the JK Island on Red Road.

“Trams used to move towards Kidderpore Road along these tracks, against the flow of traffic on Dufferin Road. Since the trams are not operational now, vehicles can use this portion of the road to move towards Mayo Road once the tracks are de-reserved,” a senior police officer said.

The tram tracks on Dufferin Road connect RR Avenue with Kidderpore Road, and trams on three routes from Esplanade to Kidderpore, Tollygunge and Ballygunge used to trundle down the tracks.

Senior transport department officials said the three routes have been out of operation since 2020, when Cyclone Amphan struck Bengal, damaging overhead wires, they added.

Efforts to revive the Esplanade-Tollygunge route hit a roadblock because of ongoing work on the East-West and Joka-Esplanade Metro lines, transport department officials said.

“Unless the ongoing work for the Metro lines is completed, it will be a challenge to resume tram services on the Esplanade-Tollgunge route,” a senior official of the West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) said.

The tram tracks on a stretch of Dufferin Road under discussion stand elevated about five inches from the road surface over a concrete turf, police officers said.

The difference in gradient poses obstacles to the free movement of vehicles towards Mayo Road because a portion of the road remains inaccessible to motorists.

“A Metro station on the Joka-Esplanade route is scheduled to come up near the existing Park Street Metro station, and that will eat into portions of Mayo Road and Outram Road,” a senior police officer said.

“If we have to change the traffic flow, Dufferin Road will have to accommodate bigger vehicles and buses. Wider road space will help carry vehicles faster,” he said.

Transport department officials said de-reserving the tracks would involve a clearance from the army, which is the custodian of the Maidan. The transport department will have to inform Calcutta High Court, which has instructed the state government to find ways to preserve “heritage trams” before agreeing to de-reserve any tram track.

A section of tram lovers, who have been pressing for the restoration of several tram routes, said de-reserving the tram tracks can’t be the answer to managing traffic.

“Tram service along the Tollygunge-Ballygunge route now stands suspended. Every move is aimed at scuttling the movement of trams in this city when worldwide there are efforts to bring back trams,” said a member of the Calcutta Tram Users Association.