Electric Trams For The City of Madras, Old Print 1973

There are six old 1973 prints, pages from a journal that shows the Electric Trams For The City of Colonial Madras, now Chennai. Presents a brief history of the Madras Tramways that first began in 1874 with horse-drawn service. India had five electric tramways- Mumbai, Kolkata, Kanpur, Delhi, and Chennai. Today only one survives from the British era that is in Kolkata, the rest are gone.

The Mumbai tram system opened in 1874 and was discontinued in 1964, Kanpur opened in 1907 discontinued in 1933. Delhi tram began in 1908 discontinued in 1963. The Chennai tramway service first commenced with horse-drawn trams in 1874 It had an 18km circuit in the city. By 1888 the line was a dismal failure, nothing more happened until 1891. By April 2, 1892, the Madras Electric Tramways Co Ltd, was registered in London.

18 km of the track to be laid was proposed at a cost of GBP8000 per km. Trial runs began in February 1895 and public service began on May 7, with seven cars. This would be the first electric tram service in India in 1895. Click on the photo for better view.

See post Trams of Madras / Chennai – 2 Old Photos 1935.

Did you know- the tram car bodies were constructed at the Perambur Railway Workshop, Perambur is around 10 km from Chennai.

From the collection- Antique Painting of Madras Fort St George., Bangalore Cantonment Area – Old Photo 1880., Old Book – Bombay Gateway of India 1994., Air-India Durbar Of The Rajah Of Travancore – Old Postcard