The TRAM-WM World Tramdriver Championship was held in the Austrian capital on 13 September. Teams from 25 countries competed to carry out seven tests: stop-and-go without spilling water, Speed and target braking, tram bowling, precision reversing, lateral distance from an obstacle, exact stop and tram curling, with points scored on each test, including time penalties. All drivers used Wien ULF (72) and Flexity (333) trams; they had practised on them the day before at the central workshops. The tests took place on the Ring outside the Rathaus (City Hall), with regular trams diverted on the day. Thousands of spectators watched the competition and cheered the contestants.
A special welcome was given to the team from Kyiv, Ukraine. The Tram Driver European Championship has been held in different European cities every year since 2012. This year the scope was expanded to include tram drivers from Africa (Casablanca), North America (San Diego), Asia (Hong Kong), South America (Rio de Janeiro) and Oceania (Melbourne). In all 25 two-person teams took part, with the remainder coming from Europe. Great Britain was represented by a team from Edinburgh Trams (Kira Sutter and Jason Moffat).
When the points were totalled at the end of the day Wien (Vienna) had won with 5599 points (Elisabeth Urbanitsch and Florian Isaku), Poznan came second with 5244 (Monika Bocian and Dariusz Graj), and Oslo third with 5140 (Ingrid Nansve and Ole Marius Fossen). Edinburgh came 18th with 3555. The wooden spoon went to Melbourne, Hong Kong and Zagreb as they propped up the table. Next year’s championship will be held in Warsaw.
The winning team from Vienna. (Tram-WM)
Share this post: