One of the most significant decisions ever made by the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) in 2004 must be the preservation of the old tram tracks unearthed at the junction of Penang Road and Chulia Street during roadworks.The MPPP did the right thing, because the tracks come from a bye-gone age when tramcars ruled the streets of George Town, not the cars or buses of today. The tram cars were living proof that Penang had a good public transportation network that stretched from Weld Quay, passing through Chulia Street, Penang Road, Dato Kramat Road and thence to Ayer Itam village. This was the nerve line of Penang, bringing people from the interior of the island to the port where Penang's entreport trade was its lifeline.
Today, the MPPP has unearthed a further stretch of tram tracks along Penang Road that curved from Chulia Street towards the Campbell Street junction. It will be significant if the MPPP chooses to preserve these tracks as well.
As a Penangite, I will support any proposal to the Penang state government that it rehabilitate the tracks and reintroduce tramcars to service the inner city. We should be proud of our heritage and this is indeed one of many in Penang.
4 comments:
hi. were you at ric francis's talk about re-introducing trams on saturday? i was and had blog about it.
Hi Lucia,
No, I wasn't at Ric Francis' talk last Saturday. In fact, I only learnt about it on Sunday evening when I went searching for some background information about the tram tracks.
SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia
Yes I agree.. Trams would have been a better solution but unfortunately the
govt. has spent money on Rapid bus so much then it will bog down to cost savings for the new Penang govt. again.
Solutions are plentiful. However, what matters most is this. March 8 has shown how "short sightedness the govt" has become and I believe the new govt will have to shake off this mentality. We still have the likes of Mark Ooi , former political secretary glorifying and slamming others for taking credit on the FDIs where the basic transportation has never been attended to for the last 18 years. Oh...not forgeting the PGCC..how can I forget about that. So - if there is going to be another by-election, I will say BN Suck it yourself
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