School of Rail Transportation at Soochow University was initially established as an applied engineering college in May 2008. Then, the school was moved from the main campus of Soochow University to the Yangcheng Lake Campus in August 2012. With its unique academic programs, the school developed rapidly during its first decade. The number of undergraduates increased from 240 of the first semester to 1,244 in 2016. Currently, the school has 107 full-time faculty members, including 10 full professors, 40 associate professors and 42 assistant professors. The school consists of four departments, namely Civil and Building Environmental Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Vehicle Engineering, and Electrical Engineering,, and has six research laboratories and centers which are the Suzhou urban rail transit key laboratory, Soochow University traffic engineering research center, smart structures and systems research center, vehicle engineering research center, transportation engineering research center, and underground engineering research center.
School of Rail Transportation offers six undergraduate programs in Vehicle Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Engineering Management, Rail Traffic Signal and Control, Electrical Engineering and Intelligent Control, Building Environment and Energy Application Engineering; four M.S. programs in Vehicle Engineering, Measurement Technology and Instruments, Engineering Management, and Transportation Engineering; and one Ph.D. program in Intelligent Transportation Engineering. The school has established the Jiangsu provincial rail transit practice education center for teaching and research, railway locomotive driver training base granted by the China Ministry of Railways and national energy-saving and air conditioning training center. The school established cooperative relationships with many domestic colleges, universities, scientific research institutes and enterprises to better educate students as well as provide support to Suzhou rail transit planning, design, and construction.
School of Rail Transportation promotes international exchange and cooperation actively. A contract of "2+2 undergraduates exchange program" has been signed with Woosong University, South Korea. After completing this program, the students will obtain bachelor's degrees from both sides. In the past three years, dozens of students from both sides have completed the 2+2 programs and received the dual-degree. In order to expand the horizon, improve the professional technology and enhance the competitiveness in employment, the School of Rail Transportation has organized several summer camps to Taiwan railway, South Korean railway, etc. Another contract of "Accelerated Master Program" has been signed with the University of Arizona, U.S., in 2016. The undergraduates enrolling in this program may obtain a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Transportation Engineering from Soochow University and a Certificate in Advanced Transportation Engineering from the University of Arizona, and either a Master of Science (MS) or Master of Engineering (ME) degree from the University of Arizona inasmuch as one year less time than would be required if the degrees were pursued sequentially.
School of Rail Transportation receives research funding from a variety of sources, including: the National Science Foundation of China (38 projects were granted from 2008 to 2017), provincial- and ministerial-level foundations (20 projects were granted from 2008 to 2017), and local government and enterprises (1.5 million USD funding was granted from 2008 to 2015).
Website: http://jtxy.suda.edu.cn
