周日（12月18日），电车车轮的“卡拉卡拉”声又在美国新奥尔良市的街道上响起，该市历史悠久的有轨电车系统在因“卡特里娜”飓风影响停驶数月后，又开始恢复运行。

    据美联社12月18日报道，当日上午7点，编号930的电车第一个披红挂绿地驶出车站。该市运输管理局发言人罗莎琳德·库克说：“这一天等来得太不容易了。评估（受损）车辆状况、分配运行路线和召回司机——要做的工作太多了。”

    自从“卡特里娜”飓风8月底袭击新奥尔良市并造成电线杆和电车轨道严重损毁之后，该市具有标志意义的有轨电车便停止了运营。18日，有6辆电车驶上密西西比河岸线和运河街线。在“卡特里娜”飓风袭击之前，它们运行在圣查尔斯大道沿线，圣查尔斯大道是世界上历史最久的常年运营的有轨电车路线。由于此前行驶的红色有轨电车在洪水中损坏严重，目前还不能正常运行，新奥尔良市政委员会此前批准运输管理局将老式的绿色电车重新“披挂上阵”。这些电车的年龄可上溯至上世纪20年代。

    除临时重启老式电车之外，要使电车重新开动起来，还需要召回飓风过后流离他乡的电车司机们。许多新奥尔良运输管理局的职工，包括罗莎琳德本人，目前都暂住停泊在河岸旁的一艘客轮上。他们的家在8月29日的飓风和引发的洪水中毁于一旦。在洪水中失去家园的电车司机克拉伦斯·格罗乌尔将妻女留在休斯顿，重返在新奥尔良的工作岗位。在找到稳定的居住地前，他在当地一家旅馆中暂住。

    电车恢复运行当日，一些路人纷纷留影纪念。自称“有轨电车迷”的库尔特·汉普敦家住新奥尔良以西的梅泰里市，他一大早便赶来凑热闹。电车乘客相互间聊着朋友、家人以及寒冷的天气，他们说电车使其找回新奥尔良往日生活的影子，这叫他们感觉很好。

    一位名叫艾伦·德雷克的乘客说：“我忍不住要来看看。我喜欢有关这座城市的好消息，这（电车恢复）就是好消息之一。”

    The clackety-clack is officially back. New Orleans on Sunday resumed its streetcar service, which had been out of commission since Hurricane Katrina wiped out the utility poles and metal tracks used to propel the city's trademark mode of transportation.

    Car number 930, adorned with holiday garland and red ribbon, was the first to roll out from the French Market post at 7 a.m.

    "It has taken so much to get here," said Regional Transit Authority spokeswoman Rosalind Blanco Cook. "Evaluating the cars, trying to get the cars on different routes and getting the operators back — it took a lot of work."

    Six of the 35 historic New Orleans streetcars that before Hurricane Katrina ran along St. Charles Avenue — the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world — operated Sunday along the Mississippi Riverfront line and part of the Canal Street line.

    There were two backup cars on the tracks as well.

    The newer red cars that usually travel those routes were severely damaged by floodwaters and are not in service. The New Orleans City Council had to pass an ordinance allowing the RTA to move the older green cars, which date back to the 1920s, to the new routes.

    The RTA is providing free bus service on the St. Charles route, whose infrastructure is not yet ready for streetcar service, Cook said. She said it's unclear when the service, which runs through the city's Garden District, past mansions and Audubon Park, will resume.

    The riverfront line was added in 1988 and the Canal Street line, which was abandoned 40 years ago, was restored in 2004.

    Clarence Glover, who has driven streetcars for 22 years, was instructing conductor Jerry Duplessis on Sunday's first run. Before Katrina, Duplessis drove the newer cars, which had more automatic features. He had to be briefed on the older cars' manual components, such as a foot pump that drops sand on the tracks for traction as the car comes to a stop. The newer cars drop sand automatically, Glover said.

    Getting conductors back into the city was part of the battle to resume streetcar service. Many RTA workers, including Cook, are living on a cruise ship docked at the riverfront after their homes were destroyed by Katrina's winds Aug. 29 and subsequent flooding.

    Glover, whose home in eastern New Orleans was flooded, left his wife and daughter with family in Houston to return to his job. He's currently living in a hotel until he finds something more permanent.

    Duplessis, whose home was deluged as well, said he is living with family in Avondale.

    As the streetcar rolled Sunday, several bystanders waved and took pictures. A handful hopped on board. Kurt Hampton, a self-proclaimed "streetcar buff" who lives in suburban Metairie, said he woke up early to come into the city and see the first car roll.

    He was glad he remembered to bring his camera when barely five minutes into the first run, car 930 came to a halt — a car parked near Jax Brewery in the French Quarter was too close to the tracks for the streetcar to pass. So, in typical New Orleans fashion, a policeman, some RTA workers and even a couple of passengers helped bounce it away from the tracks. The vehicle was later towed.

    Passengers talked of friends and family, the chilly weather and about how good it felt to have a little piece of New Orleans back.

    Alan Drake, whose lower Garden District home fared well, said he "couldn't resist being here." He said he was among the first passengers to ride the Canal Street line when it launched last year.