THE RAILWAYS AND THE TRANSPORTS DEPARTMENT

KEEP THE RAILWAY TRADITION ALIVE

The Railways Institute was founded in 1948 at the initiative of railway specialists; the first class graduated in 1952. After seven years, the institute was renamed into the Transports Department, as part of the Bucharest Polytechnic Institute (today the Bucharest Polytechnic University).
The Transports Department includes four sections - Railway Rolling Stock, Transports Equipment, Road Vehicles and Remote Control, Electronics in Transportation - which originate from the former Railways Institute. The mechanical profile is found in two specializations - Railway Rolling Stock and Road Vehicles, the electronic profile - in the Remote Control and Electronics in Transportation, and one of the biggest achievements after 1990 is the establishment of the Transportation Engineering section. These four sections with three distinct profiles prove that the institute was the most heterogeneous structure in the Bucharest Polytechnic University.
As a global image and in terms of student interest, it seems that the Transports Department is the second most preferred after the Automation and Electronics Department, with a fairly large share of student options compared to the other mechanical departments. Of course, there is no hierarchy about departments, because a student in engineering is able to cope with any technical problem based only on the fundamental knowledge. Nevertheless, preoccupation for modernization and student upbringing to new standards, have been a new burden on teachers' shoulders after 1990. It seems it was not and will not be a simple task, because restructuring the education plan is a difficult task. First, there is a need for specialization staff, then education materials and laboratories, needed for a different activity than before.
A positive fact for the young students is that half of the teachers are being guided by CFR specialists. This provides a strong bond between theory and practice, especially that changed in transportation are happening very fast. At the same tie, the student will graduate with a good measure of comfort with the railway environment. But there is a downside - these associate staff can not be requested to attend research or scientific works. Because of the salaries, younger professionals are hard to persuade to take up teaching, especially with the competition from railway companies that offer attractive hiring conditions. The lack of teachers with basic functions is felt at the Railway Rolling Stock and Transportation Technology departments, which still enjoy the support of railway specialists. The tradition seems to have started many years ago. Tempting for the graduates of this department as well as other departments - Remote Control and Electronics in Transports (to a smaller extent) is, in the last ten years, a guaranteed job after graduation. Both the former SNCFR and the existing railway companies issue such offers, a fact that makes railway transports an attractive venue from sophomores.
Until 1990, this integrating vision was less poignant in training engineering specialists, but today, on this single, multi-modal market, specialists are trained in all transport sections, and according to international concepts. The Transports Department treats its own domain not as a purpose in itself, but integrated into the socio-economic mechanism because the economic side cannot be borrowed from the industry or agriculture. Railways' demands that graduates have a better economic training has been called a welcome orientation, and today it is found in education programs.
The Romanian Railways and the Transports Department, with the around 400 students trained, hopes to improve both production and the way this sector is perceived.
The Railway Rolling Stock Department
The general transportation system includes many branches that must be present in a national economy. In this light, the "Railway Rolling Stock" specialization receives a welcome importance.
The education program includes for this branch modern specialization disciplines that help students accumulate knowledge and build a way of thinking in accordance with current worldwide demands. A fact that is confirmed by he presence of some graduates in specific institutions abroad, where they work as rolling stock engineers. This section is part of the mechanical profile, which has the same structure across the university in the first three years of fundamental technical training. By virtue of the fact that student become in touch with their specialization starting with the 1st year, we can say that they are much more connected to production compared to foreign students. This contact with the craft, through the practice the students have in specialized units: depots, carriage revision stations, railway stations, etc., confirm the appreciation graduates enjoy, and the quality of Romanian education in rollick stock. It seems the estimate has been an incentive for teachers who after 1990 focused a lot on diversity in students' professional training, by including new disciplines in the new world context: "Utility computer software"; "Experimental data acquisition techniques"; "High-speed technologies", etc. Through the contribution of the railways and specific enterprises, students can now take practical lessons in locomotive, carriage and installations laboratories, all equipped with natural-scale technical material - Diesel engines, electric locomotive transmission, bogies - and are allowed to improve their knowledge. The document basis created over time - libraries, laboratories, computing center - gives students a proper ground for individual study.
Moreover, besides the mandatory disciplines for a rolling stock engineer, there are optional materials that direct the student to a specific industry branch - operation, design, construction, etc.
The CFR - SA National Railways Company, through its scholarship program for Railway Rolling Stock students (and other sections within the Transports Department), and by guaranteeing a job after graduation, opens the doors to more specialists into railway transports.

(In the next issues we will cover the other three sections of the Transports Department)

Oana Bran