Urban Rail Transit and Railway Engineering
The history of Department of Urban Rail and Railway Engineering at Tongji University can be traced back to 1914 when Tongji University launched the course of Railway Construction. In 1952, Department of Road and Railway Engineering was established. After that, the railway disciplines had been managed by the Ministry of Railways and changed to the Railway Engineering Department of Shanghai Railway University. In 2000, Shanghai Railway University and Tongji University merged together and formed Department of Urban Rail and Railway Engineering.
Since the 1950s, the department has cultivated a lot of technical and management talents including one academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, many leaders who managed the work of railway planning, construction and technology.
The department have four teaching and research directions: Route Design and Planning Theory of Railway, Maintenance and Management of Railway Track, Design Theory and Technology of Railway Infrastructure and System Dynamics of Railway Line. In recent years, the department has hosted many scientific research projects including the Nation Science and Technology Support Project, National High-Technology Project (863), NSFC and Major Scientific Research Projects from Ministry of Railway and Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology. By the end of 2015, the department has also achieved 1 National Award for Technological Invention, more than 20 provincial Science and Technological Awards, more than 30 national patents and edited a series of textbooks on railway transportation.
The department also emphasizes on the importance of combining theory with practice and strengthens the international communication increasingly. Every year , many teachers and students take part in the research work of major engineering projects and the international academic communication In recent years the department has finished lots of joint research works with many universities from USA, Canada, Germany, UK, Russia ,Japan, etc..