This article includes railway colleges/universities/higher-educational-institutes in the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states.
Railway colleges are higher educational institutes which train students for railway careers, mainly in engineering. They differ from other colleges by offering various classes on railway topics (such as railway electrification, railway operations, etc.) and most students major in some railway specialty. The Soviet Union inherited a few such colleges from the Russian empire and both expanded them and created many new railway colleges. After the demise of the Soviet Union and the resulting decline in railway transportation in the Post-Soviet states, most of these colleges (often renamed into universities) continued to operate with support from the government.
Introduction Railway colleges during the Soviet era prepared students for careers in various aspects of railroading, primarily as engineers.See the "Great Soviet Encyclopedia" (БСЭ) article on railway colleges During the Soviet period they were often known as "higher educational institutes" (), and this designation is still in use.
In 1967 they had a total of 215,000 students enrolled, about half of which were correspondence students.Personal letter dated Nov. 15, 1967 to David Lawyer from Professor Nicholas DeWitt (director of "International Survey of Educational Development and Planning" at Indiana University) However, less than 7,000 students graduated each year, mostly in engineering (such as electrical, mechanical, or civil engineering with emphasis on railway applications).
Almost 10 years later (in 1976) they had a total of 130,000 students: 50,000 students, 12,000 night school students, and 52,000 correspondence students. There were 21 different fields of study including 3 new ones: computer science, applied mathematics, and automatic control systems. During the 9th 5-year plan (1970-1975) they graduated 66,000 engineers (a little over 12,000 per years) which is more than reported for the 1960s per above.{Шипетовский, В.Н. "Бысокие требования к кадрам трансморта" (High requirements for transport workers) in ЖД Транс, #1, 1977 pp.63-70 (see p. 65) In 1976 there were then a total of 15 institutes and 86 tekhnikums.
In 2015, about 25 years after the demise of the Soviet Union, railway universities are still quite active but the mission statements of the two largest ones don't even mention "railways". Instead, they imply their major mission is "transportation" which, of course, includes railways.
Railway vocational schools Besides railway colleges/universities, there were railway tekhnikums.See The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979) for info on tekhnikums These were schools which were mid-level educational institutions somewhat below the college level. They are often known as "colleges" in Russia todaytekhnikums become "colleges" but the Russian definition of college (pronounced the same as in English) doesn't correspond with the English definition of college. So it's incorrect to call them "colleges" if one adheres to the English definition of this word. There was also a somewhat lower level of railway school known as a railway vocational school (). Graduates of these two types of schools were qualified to become technicians, maintaining and repairing railway equipment and track, etc. Some became locomotive drivers along with some graduates of railway colleges.
Lists of railway colleges The lists below include the college Wikipedia page, location and founding year.
Belarus Belarusian State University of Transport in Gomel, 1953
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan Academy of Transport and Communications named M. Tynyshpaev (kk wiki) in Almaty, 1976
Latvia Institute of Railway Transport, now integrated into the Faculty of Transport and Mechanical Engineering of the Riga Technical University. The predecessor of this institute was a branch (since 1965) of the Soviet Leningrad institute of railway engineering and served the three Baltic states plus the Kaliningrad region.
Russian Federation Two major railway universities in 2015 are in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The Moscow "University" claims to be the 5th largest university in the world in terms of the number of students (about 60,000).: В.П. Янелисом "Газета «выстреливает» один раз; Интервью с главным редактором студенческой газеты МИИТа «Инженер транспорта» В.П. Янелисом" (The newspaper is a one-shot deal; Interview with the editor of the student newspaper of MIIT 'Transport Engineer' В.П. Янелисом) Политическое образование (Political Education (Internet Magazine)) Feb. 1, 2010. This excludes correspondence students but might include students in the over 40 branches of the university in other cities and also might include students in the tekhnikum that merged into the university.Тамара Андреева: "Подготовка специалистов Ориентиры «двойных» реформ" (Preparing specialists, orienting on double reform) in Транспорт России, № 13 (613) 25 March 2010. However, only "17,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students" are claimed on the English part of the official university website:About the university
In the abbreviated university names shown below, such as , = "State University of Railways". The leading in stands for = Petersburg, the city where the university is located. The universities often have branches in other cities.
St. Petersburg State Transport University in St. Petersburg, 1810 Russian University of Transport, former Moscow State University of Railways (МИИТ=MIIT=МГУПС) (ru wiki) in Moscow, 1896 Samara State University Railways (СамГУПС)(ru wiki) in Samara, 1973 Omsk State Transport University in Omsk, 1900 Rostov State Transport University in Rostov-on-Don, 1929 Far East State University of Railways (ДВГУПС) (ru wiki) in Khabarovsk, 1939 Irkutsk State University of Railways (ИрГУПС)(wiki) in Irkutsk, 1975 Siberian State University of Railways (СГУПС) (ru wiki) in Novosibirsk, 1932 Ural State University of Railway Transport in Yekaterinburg, 1956 Russian Open Academy of Transportation (РОАТ)(ru wiki) with headquarters in Moscow, 1951. It is a correspondence school and is part of the Russian University of Transport. Railway trade schools (tekhnikums), been taken in under the university umbrella and are now classified as branches of railway universities.
Russians today seem to be highly motivated to obtain a college education, even if the job prospects are not very good. It was thought by some that under capitalism, there would not be the surplus of college graduates that existed in the USSR. But it turns out that there is an even greater surplus today.Ochkina, A. V., 2004-08-14 "The motivation for college education in contemporary Russia" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Hilton San Francisco & Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel, San Francisco, CA, Online <.PDF>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p109048_index.html
Turkmenistan Institute of Telecommunications and Informatics of Turkmenistan in Ashgabat, 1992
Ukraine Dnipro National University of Rail Transport in Dnipro, 1930 Donetsk Railway Transport Institute in Donetsk, 1967 Ukraine State University of Railway Transport (uk wiki) in Kharkiv, 1930
Uzbekistan Tashkent State Transport University in Tashkent, 1931
Textbooks for railway courses A large number of titles of railway textbooks were published in the USSR.See Bibliography of "Rail transport in the Soviet Union" for books labeled "textbook". There are many more such textbooks besides the ones shown in this bibliography. Examples of subjects covered are railway track, cars, locomotives, signalling and communications (including remote control and automation), transport economics, accounting, etc. Many such textbooks included mathematical formulas (and some had differential equations). Every year saw several new such textbooks (or revised editions of existing textbooks).See the Soviet serial "Ежегодник книги СССР" (Yearbook of books published, USSR) published in Moscow by "Бсесоюзной книжной палаты = "National book publishers" . For example the yearbook for 1956 (vol. 2 for the 2nd half of 1956) lists four textbooks z for railway colleges (titles are translated): 20803: Interactions of track and rolling stock, 20838: Automatic Brakes, 20864: Railroad cars, 20896: Automation and remote control at stations (includes freight yards). The numbering (like 20864) starts with 1 for the first book listed in vol. 1 (the first half of 1956). Note that other railway textbooks are also listed but they are for Tekhnikums = Tekhnicums = техникумы (20899, 20906, 20935) and uchilishches (20834) Railway textbooks were also published for use by Railway vocational schools.
Comparison with the United States The United States once had railway university courses in Civil EngineeringSee William Hay Educator, researcher, national and international railroad expert and there was a failed attempt at Harvard Business School to create a cadet-system of railway education in the 1920s.Wyckoff, p.97
After World War II the University of Illinois was the only major institution in the US providing instruction in railway engineering (in the Civil Engineering Dept.). After professor W.W. Hay retired from teaching railway engineering there, his position was not replaced and the railway courses were thus abolished. However, in the 1990s the University of Illinois restarted its railway engineering program and has the US' most robust railroad engineering and research program. A few other American universities, notably Michigan Tech and Purdue offer railroad engineering classes.
At Harvard Business School there were great expectations for the "cadet" program but the railroads failed to support it and the graduates from the program obtained positions in other industries. One observer of the railroad's attitude towards education stated that railway senior officials were the result of producing "the 'practical man' who had little use for anything learned in school".Wyckoff, p.96 Wyckoff's book states (regarding the railroad's "Attitudes toward formal education") that "There was even evidence that the educated man was put upon and ridiculed by other middle managers and workers." Thus the railroads themselves appear to be at least partly responsible for the lack of college level railway education in the US.
Currently there are a number of community colleges that offer some rail training. One, for example, is Johnson County Community College which offers some training in conjunction with BNSF Railway. Some courses require permission of BNSF, like the course in thermite welding.
References Wyckoff, D. Daryl, "Railroad Management" Lexington Books 1976.