World Tramdriver Championship

World Tramdriver Championship
Tournament information
LocationTramway networks of changing host cities
Established29 September 2012 (2012-09-29)
Number of
tournaments
11
Websitewww.tramwm.com
Current champion
Austria Vienna (2nd Championship victory)

The TRAM-WM World Tramdriver Championship (formerly the TRAM-EM European Tramdriver Championship) is the world championship for competitive tram driving.

History

Wordmark used before 2025

In 2012, the first Tram-EM (German: Tram-Europameisterschaft, or Tram European Championship) was created for the 140th anniversary of the Dresden tram network. The championship is hosted yearly in Europe by rotating local transit companies in cooperation with the Dresden-based production company that created the concept.

TRAM-EM has been a registered trademark since 2014.

Going from European to World Championship

In 2022, a non-European team was invited to compete for the first time, with Melbourne, Australia joining the event in Leipzig and finishing 10th.[1][2] In 2024, Wiener Linien announced on their website that they planned to host the event in 2025 and to turn it into a World Championship by inviting teams from Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and Australia.[3][4] In September 2025 it was confirmed that the 2025 iteration of the competition in Vienna was to be the first World Championship.[5] Melbourne, Australia will host the next World Championship in 2027,[6] with Warsaw, Poland hosting a European Championship the year prior.[7]

Concept

Tram skittles, European Tramdriver Championship, Rue de la Régence-Regentschapsstraat, Brussels, 4 May 2019

The Tram-EM competition is a team competition where each team consists of one female tram driver, one male tram driver and one team supervisor. The competition is open to European public transport agencies, who may submit one team each.[8]

The championship is split into two rounds, with each driver taking the controls once. Each round consists of 6 disciplines. The disciplines could be stopping at a target, emergency braking, measuring side clearance during a curve, stopping exactly at a tram stop, speed estimation with a hidden speedometer, precision driving past a gate, "tram billiards," or "tram bowling." The skill at each discipline, in addition to the time to complete each discipline, influences the score. The event includes a team procession, practice rounds, social events for drivers, competition, and award ceremony.

The competitions have long been tied-in to public celebrations of the hosting transit agency, such as the 140th anniversary of the Dresden tram network, the 10th anniversary of the Barcelona tram network, and the 150th anniversary of the Viennese tram network. The goal of the competition is to give tram operators an international platform to share experience.

Events

  European Championship event   World Championship event

Year Host country Location Winning country Winner Date
2012 Germany Dresden Hungary Budapest 29–30 September 2012
2013 Hungary Budapest France Paris 24 November 2013
2014 Spain Barcelona[9] Spain Parla 22 November 2014
2015 Austria Vienna Netherlands Rotterdam 25 April 2015
2016 Germany Berlin Hungary Budapest 23 April 2016
2017 Spain Tenerife France Paris[10] 4 June 2017
2018 Germany Stuttgart Sweden Stockholm[11] 5 May 2018
2019 Belgium Brussels[12] Belgium Brussels[13] 4 May 2019
2020 Romania* Oradea* — — —
2021
2022 Germany Leipzig[14] Germany Hanover[2] 21 May 2022
2023 Romania Oradea[15] Austria Vienna 3 June 2023
2024 Germany Frankfurt[16] Hungary Budapest 14 September 2024
2025 Austria Vienna[17] Austria Vienna 13 September 2025
2026 Poland Warsaw[7] — — 19 September 2026
2027 Australia Melbourne[6] — — —

* originally postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but eventually cancelled

2023 edition

The 2023 edition was hosted in Oradea, Romania, after the planned 2020 edition had to be postponed and ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Position Country City Points
1 Austria Vienna 4300
2 Sweden Göteborg 4180
3 Czech Republic Prague 3630
4 Sweden Stockholm 3590
5 Croatia Zagreb 3450
6 Ireland Dublin 3430
7 Norway Oslo 3280
8 Netherlands Rotterdam 3250
9 Hungary Szeged 3200
10  Switzerland Basel 3090
11 Slovakia Kosice 3050
12 Belgium Brussels 3050
13 Poland Warsaw 3030
14 Romania Oradea 3020
15 Germany Leipzig 2940
16 Hungary Debrecen 2900
17 France Bordeaux 2850
18 Spain Barcelona 2840
19 Germany Nuremberg 2810
20 Germany Hanover 2690
21 Germany Berlin 2610
22 Spain Málaga 2450
23 Italy Florence 2410
24 Ukraine Kyiv 2330
25 Germany Dresden 2300

2024 edition

The 2024 edition was held in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 26 teams of two members each (at least one woman for each team) took part. The rolling stock used was Bombardier Flexity Classic which are designated Baureihe S by the Frankfurt tramway operator. Each competitor partook in six tasks worth a maximum of 500 points each with the overall time taken worth another 500 points. Each team of two participants did the whole tournament once each, resulting in a total theoretical maximum of 7,000 points per team. Here are the final results:[18]

Position Country City Points
1 Hungary Budapest 3850
2 Belgium Brussels 3800
3 Poland Kraków 3100
4 Netherlands Rotterdam 2900
5 France Paris 2800
6 Austria Vienna 2700
7 Italy Milan 2650
8 Sweden Gothenburg 2600
9 Sweden Stockholm 2550
10 Germany Berlin 2450
10 Czech Republic Prague 2450
12 Finland Tampere 2400
13 Luxembourg Luxembourg 2250
14 UK Birmingham 2150
14 Slovakia Bratislava 2150
16 Germany Frankfurt am Main 2100
17 Germany Leipzig 2000
18 Ukraine Kyiv 1900
18 Ireland Dublin 1900
18  Switzerland Zurich 1900
21 Spain Barcelona 1850
22 Norway Oslo 1800
22 UK Edinburgh 1800
24 Romania Oradea 1750
25 France Lyon 1700
26 Croatia Zagreb 1600

2025 edition

The 2025 championship was the first to invite teams from multiple countries outside Europe. It was thus renamed "TRAM-WM World Tramdriver Championship".[5] The championship took place in Vienna on 13 September.

The championship featured two drivers representing each country, with a team's overall score finalised after two runs of the each challenge; points were also awarded for overall speed. The structure of the championship was not significantly different from other years.

Challenge[19] Description
Stop and Go A container of water is attached to the front of the tram. The driver has to stop in three target areas while trying to avoid spilling the water. More points are awarded the less water is spilled.
Speed and target braking The driver must accelerate to 25 km/h, without the use of a speedometer, then stop in a target area.
Tram Bowling The driver must hit a large ball into five pins. Points are awarded for each pin knocked over, but if the tram itself hits a pin, no points are awarded.
Precision reversing The driver must reverse the tram, while receiving audio cues from their teammate (who has a whistle), with points awarded based on how close the tram stops to the centre of the target area.
Lateral distance The driver and their teammate place an obstacle at the side of the track. Points are awarded for how close to the side of the tram the object is after the driver drives toward it. Zero points are awarded if the tram hits the obstacle.
Exact stop The driver must stop the tram, with points awarded for how close the second door is to the centre of the target area.
Tram Curling A trolley is placed in front of the tram and pushed. Points are awarded for how close the trolley is to the centre of the target area after it stops.

Results

Position Country City Points[7]
1 Austria Vienna 5599
2 Poland Poznań 5244
3 Norway Oslo 5140
4 Hungary Budapest 4954
5 Ukraine Kyiv 4863
6 Czech Republic Brno 4750
7 Germany Berlin/Leipzig 4719
8 Belgium Brussels 4447
9 Romania Oradea 4425
10 Latvia Riga 4415
11 Italy Florence 4177
12 France Paris 4137
12 Spain Tenerife 4137
14 Sweden Stockholm 4105
15 Morocco Casablanca 3977
16 Ireland Dublin 3964
17 Brazil Rio de Janeiro 3900
18 UK Edinburgh 3555
19 Netherlands Rotterdam 3488
20 Finland Tampere 3457
21 United States San Diego 3344
22 Algeria Oran 3287
23 Australia Melbourne 3269
24 Hong Kong Hong Kong 3147
25 Croatia Zagreb 1875

References

  1. ^ "Does Melbourne have the world's best tram drivers? We'll soon find out". ABC News. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Deutsches Team gewinnt Straßenbahn-Europameisterschaft in Leipzig | MDR.DE". www.mdr.de (in German). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Wien veranstaltet 2025 die erste Tram-Weltmeisterschaft". www.wienerlinien.at.
  4. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com.
  5. ^ a b "First Official World Tramdriver Championship in Vienna". TRAM-WM. 7 September 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Melbourne To Host Tram Driver Championship In 2027". Premier of Victoria. 14 September 2025. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  7. ^ a b c "These are the world's best tram drivers". Tram WM. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  8. ^ "Participation". TRAM EM - English. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Metro Ligero Oeste achieves third place in the III Tram Drivers European Championship". OHLA Progress Enablers. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  10. ^ Giaimo, Cara (4 June 2017). "Europe Holds an Annual Tram-Driver Olympics". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  11. ^ Pearson, Alexander (5 May 2018). "Stockholm drivers win tram championship". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  12. ^ Benkert, Jonas. "What a day!". TRAM EM - English. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  13. ^ "Tram bowling: Hundreds gather in Brussels for European Tram Driver Championship". Chester and District Standard. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  14. ^ "So war die Tram EM 2022 der LVB". www.l.de (in German). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  15. ^ "Tram-EM in Leipzig: 47.000 Leute waren bei dem Spektakel dabei!". TAG24 (in German). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  16. ^ Fofana, Aida (13 September 2024). "West Midlands tram drivers compete in championship". BBC News. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  17. ^ Hall, Linda (29 September 2024). "Budapest has Europe's best tram drivers". Euro Weekly News. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  18. ^ "TRAM-EM". www.tramem.eu.
  19. ^ "Precision, braking and a premiere: These are the eight disciplines of the TRAM World Championship". Wiener Lienen.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Tramdriver_Championship