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{{short description|Study of engineering principles necessary for railway construction and operation}}{{Single source|date=June 2025}}{{redirect|Railway engineer|the person who drives a train|Train driver}}

'''Railway engineering''' is a multi-faceted [[engineering]] discipline dealing with the design, construction and operation of all types of [[rail transport]] systems. It includes a wide range of engineering disciplines, including(but not limited to) [[civil engineering]], [[computer engineering]], [[electrical engineering]], [[mechanical engineering]], [[industrial engineering]] and [[production engineering]].

== History ==
During the medieval times, people travelled by foot and horseback while moving goods.<ref name="clifford bonnet 2nd">{{cite book |last=Bonnet |first=Clifford F. |date=2021 |title=Practical Railway Engineering 2nd edition |publisher=World Scientific India |page=1}} Retrieved on 2025-06-27.</ref>

In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the first railways were built for the horse-drawn trains of wagons in collieries and quarries, with the first materials consisting of stone slabs and timber baulks. However, the rails were weary with carrying heavier loads.<ref name="clifford bonnet 2nd"/>

During the [[Industrial Revolution]], cast iron were added to the railway tracks to reduce the wear on the wooden baulks, which evolved further into iron edge rails, which enabled to flanged wheels' utility.<ref name="clifford bonnet 2nd"/>

In the early nineteenth century, as the locomotives came into the picture, wrought iron rails and steel rails developed to support heavy axle loads without longitudinal timbers. With the advent of the railway, a need arose for specialized [[engineer]]s capable of dealing with the unique problems associated with railway engineering. As the railways expanded and became a major part in logistics, more engineers became involved in the field, probably the most notable in Britain being [[Richard Trevithick]], [[George Stephenson]] and [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Railway Engineering |url=https://www.rcea.org.uk/about/what-is-railway-engineering |access-date=2025-06-13 |website=www.rcea.org.uk}}</ref>

== Subfields ==
*Mechanical engineering
* Electrical engineering
** [[Electrical engineering#Control|Command, control]] & [[railway signalling]]
***[[SCADA]]
***[[Network design]]
* Civil engineering
** [[Track (rail transport)|Permanent way engineering]]
* Railway systems engineering
** [[Railway signalling]]
**[[Fare collection]]
**[[CCTV]]
**[[Public address]]
**[[Intrusion detection]]
**[[Access control]]

* Computer engineering
** [[System integration|Systems integration]]

== Professional organisations ==
* ''In Australia and New Zealand'': The Railway Technical Society of Australasia (RTSA)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Railway Technical Society of Australasia - Expressions of Interest |url=https://eaxchange.engineersaustralia.org.au/officebearerandvolunteerhub/rtsa-eois |website=Engineers Australia}} Retrieved June 27, 2025.</ref>
* ''In the UK:'' The Railway Division of the '''Institution of Mechanical Engineers''' (IMechE).
* ''In the US:'' The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA)
* ''In the Philippines:'' Philippine Railway Engineers' Association, (PREA) Inc.
* ''Worldwide:'' The Institute of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE)

== See also ==
{{colbegin}}
* [[Association of American Railroads]]
* [[Exsecant]]
* [[Degree of curvature#Formula from chord length|Degree of curvature]] 
*[[List of engineering topics]]
*[[List of engineers]]
* [[Minimum railway curve radius]]
* [[Radius of curvature (applications)]]
* [[Track transition curve]]
* [[Transition curve]]
{{colend}}

=== Glossary ===

* [[Light rail|Light rail systems]]
* [[Infrastructure|On-track plant]]
* [[Centralized traffic control|Train control systems]]
** [[Cab signalling]]
* [[Rolling resistance]]
** [[Curve resistance]]
* [[Wheelset (rail transport)|Wheel–rail interface]]
** [[Hunting oscillation]]
* [[Railway electrification system|Energy electrification]]
**[[Third rail]]
*** [[Railway electrification system#Fourth rail|Fourth rail]]
**[[Overhead line|Overhead contact system]]

==External links==
* [http://www.imeche.org/knowledge/industries/railway/overview Institution of Mechanical Engineers - Railway Division]
* [http://www.aar.org/ AAR]

== References ==
<references />
{{Clear}}
{{Engineering fields}}
{{Rail tracks}}
{{Railway track layouts}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category: Engineering disciplines]]
[[Category: Rail technologies]]
[[Category:Transportation engineering]]


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