10.09.2025

Tampere Tramway competes for World TramDriver Championship in Vienna

The Tampere Tramway team represents the city of Tampere, and whole Finland, at the World TramDriver Championship competition organized on Saturday, 13 September in Vienna. The 2025 Tram World Championship is the first world-wide event of its kind.

Tampereen Ratikan raitiovaununkuljettajien MM-joukkue — *Tampere Tram drivers Maria Laitoniemi (on the left) and Toni Rantsi, along with supervisor Hanna Hurri, are representing Finland at the TRAM World Championship 2025 in Vienna.*

The tramdriver championship competition tests the drivers’ skills at tram driving, precision and focus. The Tampere team includes tram drivers Maria Laitoniemi and Toni Rantsi, and their supervisor Hanna Hurri. They work at VR, the company responsible for traffic operation in the Tampere Tramway family.

– The representatives were selected from a group of 20 drivers at a preliminary qualification contest. The rules state that a team must include one man and one woman as well as a supervisor who acts as their trainer. It is very inspiring to meet colleagues from around the world and to get to know the Vienna tramway (Wiener Linien) better, says Hanna Hurri.

European tram cities have hosted friendly competitions between tram drivers since 2012. Last year, 26 teams from 19 different countries participated in the TRAM-EM 2024 European Championship competition. Tampere, then 1^st-time-participant at the event, won 12^th place.

This year, the event is held on a world-wide scale for the first time. The TRAM World Championship competition will take place in the city centre of Vienna. The competition track is 200 metres long, and there are eight challenging tasks for the drivers to complete. These include precision breaking, tram bowling, and a water tank task, in which the tram is carrying full water tanks and the purpose is to drive the tram so smoothly that the water does not spill over.

– Mirrors and speed indicators are covered, which adds to the difficulty of the tasks. In addition, the tram cars of Vienna are very different from ours. This makes the tasks more challenging, but also more interesting, says Hurri.

MM-kisajoukkue harjoittelemassa — Driver Toni Rantsi is practicing a task where another driver places an obstacle as close to the track as possible, and the driving driver assesses whether the tram can pass without hitting the obstacle. The closer the obstacle is placed to the track without contact, the higher the score. Assisting Toni is driver Tiia Vainikainen, whose umbrella served as the obstacle during the training.

There are 25 teams from different parts of the world, including San Diego, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and Melbourne, taking part in the contest.

– An international competition is a great opportunity to showcase the skills we have in Tampere. Regular customer satisfaction surveys show that passengers are very satisfied with the driving skills of Tampere Tramway drivers. This is their chance to show their skills at the highest level, rejoices Antti Haukka, Head of Operations at Tampere Tramway Ltd.

The event is held on Saturday, 13 September 2025, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Finnish time).

The competition is live streamed from 12 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. at https://youtu.be/smp0voLUgk8 or on the website of Wiener Linien at https://tramwm.wienerlinien.at/en/live-stream.

Further information:

Antti Haukka
Tampere Tramway Ltd.
Head of Operations
Tel. +358 40 180 7096
antti.haukka@tampereenraitiotie.fi

Hanna Hurri
VR
Operative Supervisor
Tel. +358 46 920 6848
hanna.hurri@vr.fi