For the past several years civil engineering students at the University of Kentucky have had the opportunity to select one or two technical elective classes in the area of Railway Engineering and Operations. This re‐establishment of railway emphasis emanated from a 1979 national contest sponsored by the National Asphalt Pavement Association and the Asphalt Institute. An advanced Materials class, under the direction of Dr. Jerry G. Rose, submitted the winning entree in a national contest documenting the applications and benefits of using asphalt in railway trackbed construction.
Soon thereafter an initial class entitled “Railroad Facilities Design and Analysis” was established by Professor Rose. A second course related to Railway Operations and Intermodal Transportation soon followed. Civil Engineering students, particularly those interested in Transportation Engineering, can select these for senior technical electives or graduate classes. In addition, during the past 12 years research funding from several agencies has supported over 35 graduate students and 20 undergraduate students for rail‐associated research projects. Approximately 50 technical publications documenting the research studies have been produced and a similar number of technical presentations have been delivered at conferences and meetings.
UK has established itself as a lead university in the area of Railway Engineering and Operations, therefore, railroad companies typically participate in active recruiting of our graduates. This fall semester all four of the large railroad companies in the U.S. – BNSF, UP, CSX and NS – recruited during the job fair on campus. Consulting engineering firms catering to the rail industry are frequent participants as well. Numerous former UKCE students are employed by railroad companies, railway consulting engineering firms, railway contractors, and rail‐associated governmental agencies.
A portion of the class instruction is devoted to outside speakers. For example, this fall’s class included KBT member Tom Garrett, President of the Paducah & Louisville Railroad and Jack Burgess, Director of Coal Facilities & Origin Sales for CSX Transportation. In addition, John Harms, Sr. Vice President Engineering for Hanson Professional Services documented the award winning P&L Railroad Bridge Relocation at Kentucky Dam. Field trips also are frequently arranged for the students. This fall semester the students were treated to an excellent visit to the TTI Railroad headquarters at Paris (see accompanying photo).
In addition, the newly established Commonwealth Professor of Transportation initial recipient ‐‐ Dr. Reginald Souleyrette – has a background and interest in Rail Transportation in addition to other modes. His plans are to develop additional emphasis and studies in the rail and waterways engineering and operations areas, following on his previous activities at Iowa State University, and build and expand on the existing developments and accomplishments at UK. Together with transportation Professors Nick Stamatiadis and Mei Chen, UK transportation faculty and staff of the Kentucky Transportation Center now comprise one of the largest programs in transportation research, education and outreach in the US.
Finally, students interested in Rail Transportation at UK now have the option of joining the Student Chapter of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance‐of‐Way Association. UK’s chapter is aptly named “RailCats”. Sponsors for various student activities and programs are always welcome. For information on how you can participate, contact chapter president Brad Klass brkl223@uky.edu or Professor Souleyrette at the address below. Railcats is closely allied with UK’s long‐established ASCE student chapter.
Additional information on UK’s Rail Engineering and Operations activities can be obtained by contacting Professor Rose jrose@engr.uky.edu or Professor Souleyrette souleyrette@uky.edu.
