Railway Systems Engineering

How can innovative ideas in rail vehicle construction enable new transport concepts? How can transport networks be logically developed, expanded, relieved, and ecologically planned? How do random disturbances in transportation have to be considered in order to avoid jamming or to optimise safety strategies? How can we shift more passenger and freight transport to the rails? Is driverless operation possible for all kinds of rail transport means? When the interaction of technical possibilities, infrastructure, and human behaviour is supposed to be optimised, transport engineers are called upon for their interdisciplinary perspective. Students of the Railway Systems Engineering programme acquire this interdisciplinary expertise by studying the perspectives of three engineering disciplines: civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. The specialisation Railway Systems Engineering (RSE) concentrates on the further development of railway engineering. Students work with rail vehicles, rail transportation systems, and infrastructure developments in rail transportation. This Master's programme covers each aspect of the complete system of "railway": the infrastructure, operation, and vehicles, including the electrical drive as well as electric power supply. Furthermore, this is the only specialisation of the Master's degree programme in Transport Engineering and Mobility that can be studied completely in English. Course objectives and future opportunities The objective of this specialisation is to train and educate engineers with multidisciplinary expertise that can take the challenges of the modern railway sector head on. Railways remain ecologically superior, even as modern high-speed trains compete successfully with short and medium distance aeroplanes. The growing number of megacities all around the world would be in chaos without metros, LRVs, and trams. Furthermore, without freight transport on rails, our highways would be even more congested than they are today. But there is still need for innovation. Digitalisation is the key word, implying driverless operation for all types of railways, energy optimised driving with zero emission, automated condition based monitoring and predictive maintenance, better use of the track capacities, etc. Railway systems engineers can work for rolling stock manufacturers as well as for their consultants and suppliers. Their expertise is required by the operators as well as by the infrastructure managers. Consequently, along with the engineering companies in the private sector, the opportunities in the public sector are open to them as well. Finally, no matter where a railway systems engineer works, the diverse tasks at hand are guaranteed to be interesting, challenging, and rewarding. The faculties of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and the School of Business and Economics have established an interdisciplinary study programme on the field of transportation called Transport Engineering and Mobility. The Master's programme is offered in five specialisations, covering all kinds of transportation. The Railway Systems Engineering (RSE) Master's programme is offered in German ("Bahnsystemingenieurwesen") as well as in English. The RSE Master's programme is organised by the Research Center Railways, a cooperation between three institutes from the three different engineering faculties mentioned above. These are: Institute of Transportation Science and Chair of Railway Engineering and Transport Economics (VIA) See: http://www.via.rwth-aachen.de Chair and Institute of Rail Vehicles and Transport Systems (IFS) See: https://www.ifs.rwth-aachen.de/en/ Chair and Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA) See: https://www.isea.rwth-aachen.de/ Exemplary study plan First semester: Railway Systems Principles of Rail Vehicle Technology Power Electronics - Fundamentals, Topologies and Analysis Environmental Sustainability in Transport Engi