Railway Operations Class

Federal Railroad Administration2020PDFTech ReportClarke, David B.University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Center for Transportation ResearchNational University Rail Center (NURail)University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Department of Civil and Environmental EngineeringUnited States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and TechnologyUnited States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) ProgramNational University Rail Center (NURail)United StatesCollege studentsCurriculaEducationFreight and passenger servicesOperationsRailroad transportationRailroadsNURail2013-UTK-E03DTRT13-G-UTC52 (Grant 2)Increasing the number and diversity of rail-focused courses is an important step in rebuilding America\u2019s railway education infrastructure. Currently, most college level rail courses are on railway civil engineering topics. The Universities of Tennessee and South Carolina jointly developed a college class on railway operations. Providing engineering students with a better understanding of operations can improve infrastructure design and maintenance practices. The course also attracted business students interested in a career in railway management. The course goal was to present basic operating principles of North American freight and passenger railroading, including shared access corridors handling both services. Identified course topics included railway vehicle and infrastructure fundamentals; freight and passenger services; traffic planning and management; terminal and line haul operations; labor relations and management; and railway administration. The course content addressed operating differences based on railroad size or market (e.g., intercity passenger versus commuter rail, Class 1 freight railroad versus Class 3 short line). This document includes: course development, course delivery, outcomes, future steps, and a sample syllabus.105