Tram has been one of the most earliest modes of transportation. Around the world, tram transportation is not available in every country. Trams of the World are railborne vehicles and some of the trams in a few cities have become synonymous to the cities' culture and heritage. Trams are also known as trolleys, trolley cars, tramcars, or streetcars in various countries around the world. Trams in Africa can be found in only a few handful countries. A tram is not as heavy as a train, basically designed to carry passengers between places separated by short distances, primarily within villages, cities and towns. Trams ply on streets on tram tracks laid on the streets. In the later part of the 19th century and the earlier part of the 20th century, trams were very popular in the parts of the world which were affected by the waves of industrialization. But by the middle part of the twentieth century trams disappeared from many parts of the world. Africa Trams were not exceptions either. However, in the recent times, trams have begun to make a comeback. The light rail system has similarity with many of the features of trams though they do not ply on streets. In the continent of Africa, many people love to travel in Trams in Africa. Trams in Africa are cheap modes of transportation and the journey is also quite comfortable.
The journey might take time but they are of great convenience to the people of Africa. The history of trams dates back to quite a long period. The conversion from horse pulled trams to cable pulled trams have taken decades. With industrialization and scientific advancements, trams in Africa have evolved too. Earlier, trams were also used for freight transport, apart from passenger transportation.
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The main advantage of Trams in Africa is that they play a big role in curbing pollution as they do not emit pollutants and smoke like vehicles. Unlike buses in many countries, trams do not suffer from any kind of image problem as people from all sections of society like to travel in trams rather than in buses. However, in many cities which are not economically very prosperous, buses are preferred to trams as trams have high capital costs and maintenance costs. At present, Trams in Africa are seen only in the countries of Egypt and Tunisia. Earlier, other than these two countries, trams were seen in the country of South Africa too. In the country of Egypt, trams are seen in Alexandria and Cairo. The tram transportation system within and to the suburbia of Masr el-Djedida, or Heliopolis, is still operated, and is one the world's ancient instances of Light Rail. Helwan is another such town in Egypt, where one can see Trams in Africa . Alexandria is, of course, the most popular of all. In the country of Tunisia, Trams in Africa have been in operation from quite some time, only the modern Light Rail replaced the traditional trams which operated till 1960. In the country of South Africa, trams operated till 1960s.
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