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Saving a beloved icon: Growing drive in Kolkata to restore Asia's oldest running tram system
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KOLKATA - It is on the dexterity of the likes of Mr A.K. Pandey that the survival of Asia's oldest running tramway system hinges. Operating these creaking machines, which resemble antediluvian leviathans on Kolkata's packed streets, is no mean task.
Mr Pandey, a tram operator in the city for four decades, keeps his eyes peeled on a January morning for stubborn intruders on these tracks that have carried electric tram cars continuously since 1902. His left arm grasps a speed controller, while the right is clasped around the air brakes of a car built in the early 1980s.
