Vienna Hosts First World Tram Driver Championship

Vienna: Vienna was hosting a veritable traffic-stopper on Saturday, with 25 tram-driving teams from across the world battling it out in the first ever Tram Driver World Championship.

Spectators gathered in front of the Austrian capital's neo-Gothic city hall to witness the competing teams from as far as Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and San Diego show off their driving skills.

"We are celebrating a very special anniversary today -- 160 years of trams in Vienna," said Elias Natmessnig of Vienna public transport, which organised the contest.

"To mark the occasion we decided that we would host the World Championship instead of (just) the European Championships and bring teams from six continents to the city."

Tram drivers were facing off in eight challenges that test their ability to operate the heavy vehicles -- which weigh 30 or 42 tonnes depending on the model -- with precision, including braking and accelerating smoothly.

Audience favourites are tram bowling, featuring a giant ball that is used to knock down inflatable pins, and tram curling, where a bicycle trolley is pushed with such precision that it comes to a halt at a specific spot.

"I read Hungary is going to participate in this competition so I thought I should definitely come to support them," Richard Gerebenics told AFP.

The 33-year-old public transport enthusiast said he travelled all the way from the Hungarian capital, Budapest, to see the world championship in Vienna after reading about it online.

Andrey Georgiev, who visited from Sofia, said: "It is nice that people can celebrate everyday things such as trams".

On Friday, drivers familiarised themselves with the controls of the Viennese trams used in the competition, namely accelerating and braking.

Fans' eyes were on the reigning European champions from Budapest, who have serious pedigree after securing their third win in 2024.

"Curling was the most challenging task for me and I didn't really succeed as I would have liked," Hungarian competitor Krisztina Schneider, 36, told AFP after the first round.

"I thought my speed would be enough but in the end it wasn't."

The Brazilian team -- professional tram drivers Lisamar Rodrigues da Silva and Rogerio Oliveira do Nascimento Filho -- told AFP through a translator that the outcome of the challenges would come down to "staying focused".

But they stressed that they had "trained a lot in Rio de Janeiro" and were positive they would ace it.

Organisers said they expected about 50,000 visitors from all over the world to attend the championship, which was being livestreamed.

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