At the Tollygunge tram depot, among aging carriages that have witnessed the city's changes, carriage No. 201 draws particular attention. It is ready for service and instantly recognizable to film enthusiasts. In the classic 1966 Indian film 'Baharein Phir Bhi Aayengi,' the tram glides across Maidan Square during the song 'Suno Suno Miss Chatterjee,' becoming an integral part of the frame alongside the actors.
However, carriage No. 201 has another history. It was not originally built for Kolkata; it previously ran on the streets of Bombay. When the western metropolis dismantled its tram system in the 1960s, the Calcutta Tramways Company acquired several of its carriages, including No. 201. After six decades, it awaits a new chapter that may finally arrive.
For the first time in many years, hope has emerged in the city for the restoration of tram routes. One of the first transport declarations of the new Bengal government was the decision to revive the city's tram network. This represents a sharp departure from the policy of the previous administration, which systematically abolished routes, filled in tracks, and reduced the system to a few historical services.
The government has already engaged RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Service) to develop a detailed plan for reviving the oldest operating tram system in the Asia-Pacific region. Transport Minister Arjun Singh emphasized that this plan is not merely symbolic. 'The restoration of the tram was promised by no one other than our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Therefore, it is not just an obligation; it is one of our highest priorities,' stated Singh.
The plans go beyond preserving nostalgia. 'In addition to restoring historic trams, we are exploring the possibility of using battery-operated trams that can function without overhead electric wires. This will allow us to expand the tram network into new areas while maintaining the city's historical appearance,' he added.
Among the government's more ambitious proposals is the creation of a tram corridor connecting two major pilgrimage centers in Bengal—Kalighat and Dakshineswar—along the banks of the Ganges and Adi Ganga. If this project is realized, it could become one of India's most picturesque urban transport corridors.
Kolkata's history is inextricably linked to the history of its trams. Long before the metro changed city travel, trams shaped the geography, economy, and neighborhoods of the city. The first horse-drawn tram began running on February 24, 1873, covering only 3.9 km between Armenian Ghat and Sealdah. The goal was to connect the port city of Kolkata with the rapidly developing railway network. Armenian Ghat even had a ticket counter for trains to Howrah.
A real revolution occurred in 1902 when Kolkata introduced electric traction, replacing horsepower with electricity generated at its own power station in Nonapukur. This marked the beginning of one of the earliest urban electric transport systems in the world.
Another important milestone happened in 1943 when the new Howrah Bridge—later named Rabindra Setu—opened to traffic, and the first public transport vehicle allowed to cross it was the tram. By the 1950s, Kolkata's tram lines reached their peak. Nearly 470 trams transported about 410 million passengers annually, making the tram the backbone of the city's public transport system.
Tram historians argue that the decline was never inevitable. According to tram researcher Sagnik Gupta, successive planning decisions gradually separated the network from the areas generating the highest passenger traffic. The first serious obstacle arose in the 1970s when tram access to Sealdah was cut off during the construction of the Sealdah flyover.
The Howrah terminal closed in the early 1990s, with authorities claiming that heavy steel-bodied trams could negatively affect the bridge—an explanation that tram experts continue to dispute. The Ballygunge-Gariahat link disappeared, and several Howrah routes, including Bandhakat and Shibpur, were closed. Later, the Behala-Joka line was isolated after the construction of the Taratala flyover and eventually closed.
Mahadev Shi, a tram enthusiast and film director, noted: 'Every closure reduced passenger flow, which in turn was used as justification for further closures.' The last major investments were made in the 1980s when the World Bank supported modernization worth 46.2 crore rupees. Seventy-five new trams were built, 60 repaired, and over 100 modernized, but the momentum faded.
Despite decades of neglect, Kolkata's tram tracks possess something unique. Many of its wooden carriages are over a century old and remain operational—an engineering achievement unparalleled in the world. Debasis Bhattacharya, president of the Calcutta Tramways Users Association (CTUA), spent over three decades fighting to preserve this network.
He expressed joy: 'I am delighted that the government wants to revive the tram. At one point, we almost lost hope because the tracks were being covered with bitumen, despite court orders. Successive governments paralyzed the tram, restricted passenger access, and then declared it unviable.'
The turning point was the appeal by citizens, environmentalists, and tram lovers to the Calcutta High Court through numerous public lawsuits. The bench, presided over by T. S. Sivagnanam, halted the asphalt paving of the tram tracks and established an expert committee to prepare recommendations for revival. This legal step preserved the possibility of wide-scale restoration, according to Pradeep Kakkar of People United for Better Living in Calcutta (PUBLIC).
Proponents argue that bringing back the tram is not just about preserving a museum exhibit, but about creating a sustainable transport system for the future. Kolkata's experience can be useful outside of Bengal. As metro networks expand, Indian cities still require clean, high-capacity transport for short intra-city journeys. Modern trams can act as feeders, carrying more passengers than buses, and operating without local emissions. The revival of Kolkata can serve as an example for other Indian cities.
International experts agree with this view. Roberto D'Andrea, a former tram conductor from Melbourne who organized the Tramjatra cultural exchange festival between Melbourne and Kolkata since 1996, called this proposal 'the biggest transport news of 2026.' He believes that 'Kolkata should not just preserve its tram; it should expand it. The tram... can play an important role in combating climate change.'
Environmentalists hold a similar view. Vinay Jadhu from SwitchON Foundation believes that low-carbon public transport combined with infrastructure for bicycles and pedestrians offers cities one of the most effective responses to both climate change and urban pollution. Legal environmentalist Rittik Dutta from Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) cites London's experience as a warning. London abandoned its electric trams in 1952 in favor of diesel buses. Just a few months later, the city faced the catastrophic Great Smog—a disaster many historians believe was exacerbated by rising transport emissions.
Dutta argues: 'Scrapping the tram in Kolkata would be a very costly mistake.'
For decades, the Kolkata tram was a symbol of decline—a slow mode of transport displaced by faster roads, flyovers, and buses. However, history has an unusual way of returning. Cities around the world that once dismantled tram lines are now restoring them as eco-friendly mass transit systems. Modern tram networks have appeared in cities such as Paris, Sydney, Dubai, and Shenzhen.
Kolkata, notably, never completely lost its trams; it simply let them pass into the past. Now, as the world's oldest operating electric tram system at 153 years old, it may finally get the second chance it has long awaited.
If the government's plans are implemented, tram No. 201 may leave the Tollygunge depot again—no longer just a relic from a classic film, but a symbol of a city regaining one of its greatest gifts.
Emergency response services in the United States may undergo changes thanks to BRINC, which has successfully raised $125 million in funding. This investment round, led by Motorola Solutions, will provide funds to install autonomous 911 response drones on the roof of every police and fire station in the US.
The startup, founded in 2019 by Blake Resnick and based in Seattle, is turning 'Drone as First Responder' (DFR) programs into a national reality. The company is growing rapidly with support from industry giants such as Index Ventures and Sam Altman of OpenAI. After raising $125 million, the startup's total capital exceeded $280 million.
The new capital infusion will help BRINC expand drone production capacity, hire highly skilled specialists, and bring new equipment to market. In addition to Motorola, existing investors, including Index Ventures and Dylan Field, founder of Figma, participated in this round. To support this rapid growth, BRINC is moving its headquarters to the Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle, to the West Canal Yards complex.
BRINC is creating an interconnected emergency response network, which is one reason for its close partnership with Motorola Solutions. This integration allows drones to be incorporated into modern 911 systems. Upon receiving an emergency call, a BRINC drone can automatically take off from the station roof. Furthermore, a police officer can instantly launch a drone manually using a standard Motorola portable radio.
This seamless connection ensures the fastest possible response time. Among the company's impressive range are the Lemur 2 for indoor SWAT operations, Responder for rapid deployment, and Guardian. Guardian is a large drone connected via Starlink, designed to replace police helicopters. These devices arrive at the scene minutes before ground teams, providing vital video feeds and medical supplies.
BRINC is leveraging a significant regulatory shift. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) ban on foreign drones has excluded companies like DJI from the US public safety market. As a result, emergency services are actively seeking high-quality domestic alternatives. Since BRINC manufactures all its drones entirely in the US, they are fully protected from import bans.
This favorable regulatory factor helped BRINC triple its revenue in 2025 and quadruple the number of active 911 response contracts this year. The startup has also attracted major clients such as the Los Angeles Fire Department and the St. Louis Police Department. Currently, BRINC technology is used by over 900 emergency response agencies. Considering approximately 80,000 public safety stations across the US, a huge market awaits BRINC.
The author shares experience, noting that many deals are concluded based on promises rather than a real product. Often, presentations look convincing, and roadmaps are sold as if development is already complete. However, after signing the contract, it turns out that the bill is larger than the deal itself.
It is important to distinguish between a demonstration and a finished product. A demo must successfully pass 20 minutes in a controlled environment, whereas a real product must function for years under client conditions: with their data, exceptional use cases, staff changes, and audits. Closing this gap is the main job.
When sales are conducted as if this gap has already been bridged, the work does not disappear; it merely shifts costs. These expenses move from the company's development budget to the client's operating expenses, causing real damage.
Such deals are easily recognized by the implementation process: deadlines are missed, the scope of work is subtly reduced, and the client's employees have to fix problems that were not initially anticipated. What was sold as a finished platform turns out to be half-finished, and the best engineers spend time firefighting old projects instead of working on new ones.
It is incorrect to blame only the salespeople, as pressure is built into the system itself. The sales department receives compensation for orders in the current quarter, not for renewals three years later. Founders seeking investment need a logo more than they need margin. Companies whose stocks are traded are pressured by shareholders to generate income now rather than quality that can be monetized later.
The combination of insufficient domain knowledge and limited production capacity prevalent in the market makes selling 'half-baked' almost rational.
The consequences are often ignored because they manifest late and fall onto someone else's desk. First and foremost, trust suffers. In the corporate technology sector, especially in South Africa, trust is a key element, and negative experiences spread quickly among potential clients. Other bills follow: legal risks for claiming 'delivery' of what was not done, disappointment of the client whose plans were disrupted due to faith in the company, and constant overload of the engineering team.
In the public sector, examples are the most expensive: large launches, constantly growing budgets, and deadlines exceeding ministerial terms. In the private sector, this manifests more quietly—in customer attrition rather than loud headlines.
There is another side to the coin. It is necessary to launch the product early, learn from real users, and continuously improve it. The principle of 'pretend until you succeed' helped create real companies. Sometimes, development acceleration is used to finance the process itself. However, one cannot wait for the perfect moment, or a competitor will seize the niche while you polish the details.
The author agrees with the idea of an early start but emphasizes a clear boundary: ambition is the realization of a roadmap that the company is ready to execute and for which resources are allocated. Selling possibilities that lack a real path to execution is a lie with an attached bill. The first brings trust upon delivery and ensures long-term customers; the second wastes trust that cannot be restored.
The solution is not to abandon ambitious sales, but to be extremely honest about what has already been created, what is on the roadmap, and what remains merely a wish. It is necessary to price correctly and allocate resources to cover the gap between these three categories. This implies that the sales team must have the right to say 'not yet,' and the commercial model must encourage contract renewal, not just the signing of the first deal.
The author gives an example where creating network management systems required all employees, including the sales department, to understand the client's network protocols as well as, or better than, the client itself. The right to sell a solution arises only after a deep understanding of the client's world, allowing one to see problems the client has not yet noticed.
When the client insists on quick wins—value here and now, this quarter—the honest answer almost always sounds like: 'Not today, but together we can create this within the next few years.' Although this may seem like a weaker offer, clients are actually capable of recognizing the 'no problems, we will do it' pattern and prefer to work with those they trust, not those who agree to everything.
This approach is slower and yields fewer deals in the current quarter, but it brings much more over the decade because the concluded deals remain valid.
Having experience as both a provider and a client, the author concludes that the market ultimately judges the truth. One can borrow from the future—one's engineering capacity, the client's patience, one's own reputation. But this is a loan, not a gift, and interest accrues on it. These shortcuts taken for a quick sale and the release of an unfinished product do not disappear after the deal closes; they accumulate in the system as technical debt, and that is when interest begins to accrue.
The United States plans to impose a 25% tariff on certain goods from Brazil following the conclusion of a one-year investigation that found the country employed 'unfair' trade methods.
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jameson Green announced these measures late Wednesday. He stated that the investigation revealed Brazil's policies harm American interests in digital trade, unfair preferential tariffs, access to the ethanol market, and other areas.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on social media platform X that 'President Lula and his government have not negotiated with the US in good faith.' He added that Lula's economic policy harms both Americans and Brazilians, as Lula, in his view, prioritizes his own ego over reaching an agreement for the benefit of the Brazilian people, and that the imposed tariffs are the price for this.
The tariffs, first proposed last month, will take effect on July 22. According to the USTR's notice, there are exemptions for certain goods that could disrupt supply chains and are not produced in the US. These goods include some raw materials, pharmaceuticals, and coffee.
Green emphasized that the US remains open to continuing negotiations with Brazil to resolve the issues that have arisen. The initial investigation was launched last July under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which is intended to address foreign practices affecting U.S. trade and competitiveness.
In the same month, President Donald Trump also announced a 50% tariff on Brazil, which was subsequently canceled. At that time, Trump accused the Brazilian government of human rights violations and threatened economic measures if Brazil did not drop the lawsuit against former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro. Section 301 is most often applied to countries with a significant trade surplus with the US, such as China, which exported $202.1 billion more in goods than it imported from the US last year. Last year, the US trade surplus with Brazil was $14.4 billion, an increase of 112.8 percent compared to the previous year.
