Its not a line which gets mentioned a great deal but the Stourbridge Shuttle – which runs between Stoubridge and Stourbridge Junction – using two Parry People Mover vehicles – is celebrating after winning the very first World Cup of Trams. After three weeks of voting the Shuttle beat off competition from across the UK with the final seeing it winning more votes on Twitter than the Best Stop which was the Library stop on the West Midlands Metro.
More than 16,500 votes were cast over the three weeks with various rounds taking place leading to the final. Initially split into Best Tram Stop and Best Tram the two winners of each category then competed for the most votes with the Stourbridge Shuttle coming out on top.
Jamie Swift, Marketing and Commercial Manager at UK Tram, said: “The Shuttle really is a deserving winner. It may operate on one of the country’s smaller light rail systems, but it’s certainly demonstrated its popularity and triumphed against the toughest of competition. In the semi-final they saw off strong challenges from Manchester’s Pride tram and a West Midlands Metro vehicle named after football legend Cyrille Regis to secure a place in the final, where they secured 88 per cent of the vote.”
The contest was conceived as a bit of light-hearted fun during the latest round of Coronavirus restrictions. And with over 16,500 votes it certainly seems to have captured the imagination of operators, tram enthusiasts and customers from the systems. West Midlands Metro in particular were very pleased to win three rounds of the competition although in the end this wasn’t enough with the Stourbridge Shuttle the clear favourite amongst voters on Twitter.
Jamie concluded: “It really has given a lot of people to cheer about during these difficult times and provided a timely reminder of the enduring popularity of light rail, and the important role it’s played in helping people who need to travel to get around during the pandemic.”
- The full wallchart of the competition can be viewed on the World Cup of Trams Twitter page at https://twitter.com/worldcupoftrams/status/1373746739119755270/photo/1
How can this have won when its not a tram, to qualify as a tram it must operate as a street railway at some part of its route.
Simple answer is probably because the operator is part of UK Tram. There’s a bigger debate to be had as to what consitutes a tram of course – and one which is unlikely to ever be fully resolved. Some of what we cover on this website certainly isn’t a tram but comes under light rail and I guess that is where the Stourbridge shuttle fits in.