Tampere Tramway participates in the European Tramdriver Championship for the first time
A team from Tampere Tramway will be representing Tampere at the TRAM-EM 2024 European Tramdriver Championship being held in Frankfurt in September. Tampere Tramway is taking part for the first time.
The European Tramdriver Championship tests a driver’s car handling skills, precision and ability to concentrate. Tampere’s recently selected European Championship team consists of Tram Drivers Tiia Vainikainen and Jussi Aho and Tram Driver Supervisor Hanna Hurri. They work for VR, which is responsible for traffic on Tampere Tramway.
– The competition representatives were chosen from a group of over 30 drivers in a qualification process held at the Tampere Tramway depot. According to the competition rules, one man and one woman as well as a supervisor who serves as a coach were selected. It’s exciting to be going to the competition for the first time, says Hanna Hurri.
The playful European Tramdriver Championship has been held in different European tramway cities since 2012. This year, the organisers are the city of Frankfurt am Main and its public transport company VGF.
The competition will be held in Frankfurt city centre on a course of approximately 200 metres in length. The team already knows that the course will include some classic European Championship disciplines, such as precision and emergency braking. Some of the competition details will only be revealed at the actual event.
All European tramway companies can apply to participate in the competition. Teams from 22 different countries will be participating this year. Tampere, Edinburgh and Bratislava are taking part for the first time. The other teams are Barcelona, Birmingham, Brussels, Budapest, Dublin, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Kyiv, Krakow, Leipzig, Luxembourg, Lyon, Milan, Oradea, Oslo, Prague, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Vienna, Zagreb and Zürich and a guest team from Sydney.
– We’re proud that Tampere Tramway is increasing awareness of Tampere and Finland in the tramway world. We can’t wait to find out what opportunities this event will open up for us, says Antti Haukka, Head of Operations at Tampere Tramway.
More information
Antti Haukka
Tampere Tramway Ltd
Head of Operations
tel. +358 40 180 7096
antti.haukka@tampereenraitiotie.fi
Hanna Hurri
VR Group
Operative Supervisor
tel. +358 46 920 6848
hanna.hurri@vr.fi