It is a rather original championship that attracted 25 teams to Brussels over the past weekend (4-5 May).
It was the 8th edition of the Tram-Em European Tramdriver Championship’s and organizers welcomed drivers from Barcelona, Basel, Bergen, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Dresden, Dublin, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Istanbul, Krakow, Luxembourg, Malaga, Manchester, Milan, Moscow, Oradea, Paris, Porto, Prague, Rotterdam, Stockholm (champion in 2018), Stuttgart and Vienna.
Luxembourg was represented by two drivers, Samira Belbachir and Tiago Ferreira, who were accompanied by coach François Ceglie - responsible for the Luxtram lines and its formation.
The teams had to complete a series of tasks and obstacles in under five minutes using three types of vehicle (an old tram Truck, a PCC 7700 and a Bombardier Flexity Outlook T3000).
There were six different challenges: precision stopping, evaluation of lateral distance, door stop, speed and estimated breaking distance, as well as the final test of Tram Bowling.
First participation, first success: Tiago Ferreira – Luxtram’s youngest driver - took to the top of the podium in the category “Best European Driver” and, as such, took home the gold medal.
Overall, in terms of team rankings, Luxembourg found itself in a comfortable fourth place.
