TRAIN is dedicated to developing the next generation of railway transportation engineering leaders by offering courses dedicated to railway topics and introducing railway content to other Civil Engineering courses at UT. The TRAIN team also engages in rail-themed outreach to K-12 students.
Courses that TRAIN lead, Dr. C. Tyler Dick teaches at UT are listed below.
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CE 377K/397 Railway Project Design & Construction
Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
This course provides a comprehensive, integrated understanding of the process of planning and designing a railroad engineering project from concept to operation. The class focuses on five railroad project elements: 1) Planning, 2) Design, 3) Economic Analysis, 4) Construction, 5) Operation. During the semester, students will prepare and analyze the information necessary to plan, design & operate a new railroad construction project while learning from the instructor’s practical experience as a design consultant on numerous freight, passenger and transit rail projects.
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CE 397 Railway Terminal Design & Operations
Fall 2025
This course covers the geometric design, operations planning and optimization of terminal facilities required for the railway network to function as an efficient freight transportation system. Topics include the design of classification yards, intermodal facilities and bulk terminals, and organization of these facilities into an optimal freight transportation network. Students will gain skills in efficient horizontal yard track layout using different turnout configurations; conducting railcar rolling resistance, speed control and vertical profile design and simulation; and considering railcar distribution, locomotive and crew assignment models. The class includes a design project covering a typical railroad terminal development.
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CE 301 Civil Engineering Systems
Spring 2023, Spring 2025
This course is typically taken by students during their first year of study in Civil Engineering at UT. The objective of this course is to introduce students to the variety of design problems that civil engineers typically deal with. Student are required to work through a project during the course of the semester and use this as a medium to:
- Understand breaking down complex problems into well-defined sub-problems
- Understand the process of collecting various types of information required to solve each sub-problem
- Find approximate solutions to each sub-problem
- Develop an inventory of knowledge components that would be needed to perform a thorough optimal design
- Learn to work in a team to solve design problems
- Communicate effectively
- Develop a context to better understand subsequent civil engineering base level courses and how they relate as a system
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CE 370P Engineering Professionalism (Senior Capstone Design Course)
Fall 2023, Fall 2024
The objective of CE 370P is to provide a culminating major engineering design experience that 1) incorporates appropriate engineering standards and multiple constraints, and 2) is based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work. The course centers on completing a real-world public service civil engineering design project as a team for an actual client. Students write reflective essays after major project milestones about the role of ethics in their work. Finally, interactive seminars delivered by working engineering professionals help prepare the students to be successful professional engineers upon graduation. CE 370P is typically taken by students during the final semester of their undergraduate program.
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CE 321 Transportation Systems
Guest Lectures: Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024
To help introduce undergraduate students to the railway transportation mode as a potential career option or path for future research and study, Dr. Dick provides a guest lecture on railway energy efficiency to the CE 321 class during most semesters.