Between Rails and Research
While many students spend their part-time jobs crunching numbers or tutoring, Marleen Quurk has discovered Mannheim from an entirely new perspective. Since the summer of 2024, the 26-year-old has been working as a tram driver alongside her graduate studies in management at the University of Mannheim.
Keeping an eye on all signals, ensuring passenger safety, and staying on schedule—“It’s definitely more demanding than driving a car,” Marleen Quurk explains when describing her unique student job. In the spring of 2024, the Mannheim Master in Management student applied to Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (rnv), the region’s public transportation company, for a position officially titled “student tram operator.” After an intensive two-month training course during the semester break, followed by both theoretical and practical exams, she was ready for her first shift in August.
“I had a lot of respect for driving in regular service for the first time. Up until then, I had only experienced it in the simulator—funny enough, the real passengers sway back and forth just like the virtual ones,” Quurk says with a laugh, recalling her first glimpses in the rearview mirror. But transporting “real” people also comes with surprises. “At the final stop, I always check the vehicle for lost items. Once, I even found a sleeping passenger I had to wake up.”
Inspired by a classmate
The idea of applying for a tram driver job had been on her mind for a while. “During a seminar, a classmate once mentioned that he was working as a tram driver on the side. That stuck with me—so when I later saw rnv’s job posting, I thought: Why not go for it?” Before this, she had worked in an office job but realized she wanted to be “out and about, interacting with people.”
Now, the Lübeck native is the proud holder of a tram driver’s license. “My training covered everything, so I can operate all the trams in the Mannheim area,” she explains. During the lecture period, she takes on one shift per week, each lasting up to eight hours. “When I’m on the early shift, I start between 3 and 6 a.m., first checking the vehicle at the depot and then heading out onto the tracks.”
According to Quurk, this job fits well with her studies. “It’s a great way to break up the many hours I spend sitting at my desk.” Plus, there’s an academic connection: “The focus in my master’s is on sustainability—a key issue in public transportation.”
After graduation, she hopes to work in the startup sector but can imagine continuing her tram-driving gig on the side. “I see it as a great second option—and who knows? Maybe one day, I'll be driving for Deutsche Bahn,” Quurk adds with a grin.
Text: Jessica Scholich / April 2025