European Tramdriver Championship

European Tramdriver Championship

Tournament information
Location	Tramway networks of changing host cities
Established	29 September 2012 (2012-09-29)
Number of tournaments	11
Website	www.tramem.eu
Current champion
Budapest (3rd Championship)

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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]

• TRAM-EM Website