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European Tramdriver Championship

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European Tramdriver Championship
Tournament information
LocationTramway networks of changing host cities
Established29 September 2012 (2012-09-29)
Number of
tournaments
11
Websitewww.tramem.eu
Current champion
Hungary Budapest (3rd Championship)

The TRAM-EM European Tramdriver Championship is the European championship for competitive tram driving.

History

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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.

Concept

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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.[1]

The championship is split into two rounds, with each driver taking the wheel 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

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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[2]  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[3] 4 June 2017
2018  Germany Stuttgart  Sweden Stockholm[4] 5 May 2018
2019  Belgium Brussels[5]  Belgium Brussels[6] 4 May 2019
2020  Romania* Oradea*
2021
2022  Germany Leipzig[7]  Germany Hanover[8] 21 May 2022
2023  Romania Oradea[9]  Austria Vienna 3 June 2023
2024  Germany Frankfurt[10]  Hungary Budapest 14 September 2024
2025  Austria Vienna[11] 13 September 2025

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

2023 edition

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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

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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:[12]

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

Plans for a World Championship

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Wiener Linien announced on their website in 2024 that they plan to host the event in 2025 and to turn it into a World Championship by inviting teams from Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.[13]

References

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  1. ^ "Participation". TRAM EM - English. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Metro Ligero Oeste achieves third place in the III Tram Drivers European Championship". OHLA Progress Enablers. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  3. ^ Giaimo, Cara (4 June 2017). "Europe Holds an Annual Tram-Driver Olympics". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  4. ^ Pearson, Alexander (5 May 2018). "Stockholm drivers win tram championship". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  5. ^ Benkert, Jonas. "What a day!". TRAM EM - English. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Tram bowling: Hundreds gather in Brussels for European Tram Driver Championship". Chester and District Standard. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  7. ^ "So war die Tram EM 2022 der LVB". www.l.de (in German). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  8. ^ "Deutsches Team gewinnt Straßenbahn-Europameisterschaft in Leipzig | MDR.DE". www.mdr.de (in German). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Tram-EM in Leipzig: 47.000 Leute waren bei dem Spektakel dabei!". TAG24 (in German). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  10. ^ Fofana, Aida (13 September 2024). "West Midlands tram drivers compete in championship". BBC News. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  11. ^ Hall, Linda (29 September 2024). "Budapest has Europe's best tram drivers". Euro Weekly News. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  12. ^ https://www.tramem.eu/blog/de-budapest-ist-strassenbahn-europameister-2024-en-budapest-is-european-tramdriver-champion-2024-fr-budapest-championne-deurope-du-tramway-2024
  13. ^ https://www.wienerlinien.at/news/wien-veranstaltet-2025-erste-tram-weltmeisterschaft
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