Opening the rails to future engineers

Most aspiring rail engineers learn in classrooms, far removed from the massive machines they will one day help design, inspect and operate.

"Until you see a 14,000-ton freight train in person, you have no idea how powerful, dangerous and demanding it is," said Allan Zarembski, professor of practice and director of the University of Delaware's Railroad Engineering and Safety Program. "It's a mile and a half long, the equivalent of about 150 double-bottom tractor-trailers."

Student access to live rail environments is rare due to safety considerations and the proprietary nature of rail operations. UD seeks to help close that gap with a $14.5 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program.

Led by Monique Head, associate dean of the Honors College and professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, the initiative will prepare the next generation of railroad technical professionals through hands-on training at the High-Tonnage Loop (HTL) at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, Colorado. Zarembski and research assistant professor Joseph Palese serve as co-principal investigators on the HTL Center project, which also seeks to improve data sharing across the rail industry.

"One of my hopes is that this work shows that railroad engineering isn't a closed space. There is room for people from different engineering and research backgrounds to contribute in meaningful ways," said Head, who entered the rail field from a structural engineering background.

Delivering hands-on training at a national rail test facility

"The railroad industry is aggressive, difficult and potentially very unsafe if you don't know what you're doing," Zarembski said. "This program will take theoretically trained students and give them hands-on experience in the real world."

The team plans to begin offering four-week summer sessions for undergraduate students in 2027. Classroom instruction will be combined with field training and hands-on work at the TTC in Pueblo.

"It's very difficult to get a feel for how massive and how dirty and how involved everything is through videos alone," Palese said. "Students in the program will walk out the door and see it live. They'll inspect the track and work in a real operating environment."