[5] The first horse-drawn trams in India ran for 2.4 miles (3.9 km) between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat Street on 24 February 1873.

Metre-gauge horse-drawn tram tracks were laid from Sealdah to Armenian Ghat via Bowbazar Street, Dalhousie Square and Strand Road.

The government assumed the tramways, reserving the right to purchase the system with two years' notice on 1 January 1972 or at any time thereafter.

On 8 November 1976, the Calcutta Tramways (Acquisition of Undertaking) ordinance was promulgated under which the company (and its assets) was nationalised.

[1] The Tramways system had degraded by the 1990s, and Minister for Transport Shyamal Chakraborty planned to close the network.

In the meantime, Calcutta Tramways Company introduced bus service on 4 November 1992 with a fleet of 40 buses.

Former tram terminals, all now either closed or converted into bus depots and terminals, had been at Shibpur, Bandhaghat, Bagbazar, Galiff Street, Kolkata High Court, Nimtala, Behala, Sealdah Station, Howrah Station, Planetarium and Racecourse.