The Shyambazar station of Kolkata Metro is also located at Shyambazar five – point crossing. Belgachia – Shyambazar section, along with Dum Dum – Belgachia stretch, was opened on August 13, 1994 and the Shyambazar – Shovabazar – Girish Park and Chandni Chowk – Central sections were opened on February 19, 1995. Services on the entire stretch of Metro, from Dum Dum to Tollygunge were introduced from September 27, 1995 While most of the metro railway was constructed by the cut and cover process, the Shyambazar – Belgachia stretch was constructed by tunnelling.
There was a big market in the area, which Holwell called Charles Bazar. The present designation was conferred upon it by Sobharam Basak, in honour of Shyam Rai (or Gobinda), the attendant of the goddess Kali. The Basaks and the Setts were amongst the first to have settled in Sutanuti, after having cleared the jungles. Sobharam Basak was one of the wealthiest native inhabitants of 18th century Kolkata.
Growth and development of the neighbourhood and surrounding localities largely followed the construction of roads that opened up the area. Sutanuti had no roads, except the pilgrim path extending across it from Halisahar to Barisha. Chitpur Road (renamed Rabindra Sarani) was developed along this path. It passed through neighbouring Bagbazar and Chitpur. Road construction picked up in the early 19th century. The Lottery Commission (1817) and its successor the Lottery Committee (1836) opened up the native parts of old Kolkata. The main axial thrusts were from south to the north, parallel to the existing Chowringhee – Chitpur alignment.
The three-mile long Maratha Ditch was excavated in 1742 as a protection against the marauding Maratha soldiers then foraging in the countryside but who never came. It was filled up in 1799 to build the Circular Road, that ran from Shyambazar, right around old Kolkata, covering the southern end of the Maidan. It was metalled in the early 19th century. Around the same time, the most important axial thoroughfare from south to north — Wood Street (portion renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Sarani), Wellesley Street (renamed Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Street), Wellington Street (renamed Nirmal Chandra Street), College Street and Cornwallis Street (renamed Bidhan Sarani) — was built by the Lottery Committee. The new road to Barrackpur (now called Barrackpur Trunk Road and partly Bidhan Sarani) and R.G.Kar Road also converged at the same point. Subsequently, the extension of Central Avenue (the Shyambazar end is now called Bhupen Bose Avenue), which was built by the Kolkata Improvement Trust formed in 1911, also converged on the same point, making Shyambazar five-point crossing one of the busiest street crossings in Kolkata.
Horse drawn tram cars were introduced up to Shyambazar in 1882 and in 1899, Calcutta Tramways Company Limited introduced electric traction. In 1902 the entire system was electrified. Subsequently, tramways were extended to Belgachia. In 1941, tram tracks were laid along Circular Road. For many years tram cars were the only form of mass transport in Kolkata. Although the first motor car appeared in Kolkata in1896, motor bus services started only in 1920. Shyambazar tram depot is on Bidhan Sarani, near the five-point crossing. Circular Road had a garbage clearance light railway up to the early fifties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shyambazar
