Clear the tracks: Russia’s first female train driver takes the wheel after decades-long ban lifted
UMBERTO BACCHI ELENA Lysenko-Saltykova loves trains so much she got married on one. Yet fulfilling her childhood dream of working as a train driver has proved challenging. In fact, until December 31 she was legally barred from doing so. 25-year-old Lysenko-Saltykova last week became the first female driver in Russia to operate a passenger train, chartering her maiden voyage from Moscow, following the lifting of a ban preventing women from working in hundreds of jobs. "I still can't believe it's true," said Lysenko-Saltykova. Getting in the driver's seat had been a "rather difficult" journey, she explained. For decades, laws have…