Rationale of the Electrical Engineering for Railway Systems Program
Ethiopia is expanding its railway lines into different regions. In the coming 10 years, more than 5,000 kilometers of railway lines are expected to be constructed. The construction and smooth running will require qualified railway engineers. Moreover, in the medium or long term, design and construction of new railway lines has to be conducted by local engineers. The current expansion is planned despite the lack of qualified personnel in the area of railway engineering. The Department of ECE of the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) will play its part of filling this gap by training required railway engineers in the three specific areas of Railway Signaling, Electrification, and Communication.
Construction of a railway system is a huge undertaking. At the heart of this task lies the signaling system, which ensures the safe and sound operation of the railway system. Nowadays, the trend is for railway power supply systems to be operated electrically. That requires careful planning, operation, and maintenance of electric transmission and distribution systems and also understanding of the basic components in electrification. Railway systems also require a good communication network to ensure safety and speed up the operations.
This graduate program is designed so as to address the above three focus areas of the railway system. The program is part of long term solution of the country’s railway system deployment by training engineers who can understand the electrical engineering aspect of railway system in its totality and the above three focus areas in particular.
Objectives of the Electrical Engineering for Railway Systems Program
The overall objective of the graduate study is to provide students with the intellectual depth, breadth, and appropriate training necessary to pursue productive careers in the professions and also in the fields of teaching and research. The program provides opportunities to students to study advanced theory and practice in the specific electrical engineering for railway systems and solve problems that may arise in practice.
Advanced materials are presented in the form of course work and research to develop the students’ better understanding of, and greater skill in solving, railway-related problems. On the basis of this general principle, the Department has designed this graduate program to meet the following particular objectives.
- Provide advanced courses of study that include the mathematical theory of electrical systems; system performance, analysis and design principles; the study of new equipment and their technologies.
- It is provided as a professional development program for people entering or working in the rail industry, i.e., it provides work-relevant learning.
- Graduates are expected to be proficient in the mentioned specific areas of Railway Engineering and be able to handle network and traffic studies, operation, maintenance, technology assessment, systems design, and construction supervision.
- The program helps to produce proficient practitioners with multi-disciplinary system thinking; who can understand current technology trends and cope up with future challenges.
- In addition, graduates will have demonstrated through their course work that they have developed ability to quickly adapt to any system, apply principles to different situations, manage interfaces with other disciplines and systems, and manage projects in design, construction and testing.
- Provide opportunities for independent study in the formulation and solution of particular engineering problems through research and project work.
- Stimulate research to be undertaken by both students and faculty and thereby help build up research capabilities and experience within the Department.
- Train skilled manpower for the newly established universities in different parts of the country.
- To prepare students for further studies in Railway Engineering anywhere in the world.
The ranges of courses offered are expected to meet the needs of students in a particular area. The thesis course will provide the student with the opportunity to make an in depth study in the particular subject, thus strengthening the specialist skills of the candidate.
Graduate Profile
Graduate programs in the school of Electrical and Computer Engineeirng, in general, are carefully designed to enable and equip a graduate with the necessary tools in the field to enable him/her carry out his/her professional duties competently after graduation. The training in all the programs has a good mix of theoretical and practical components to produce graduates capable of fulfilling the trained manpower needs of the country in the area and also makes them equally competent with graduates of other internationally recognized similar institutions. The graduate program, in particular, will enable the student to build upon the broad background of undergraduate training in order to prepare the graduates with the necessary interdisciplinary knowledge to use scientific technology in the analysis and/or design of electrical, electronic and computer systems that are employed in the railway system, currently or in the future. To those oriented in research and development, the program is expected to extend the boundaries of methodological, conceptual and empirical knowledge relevant to the needs of the country. The program prepares the teaching oriented graduates to participate in the expansion of Railway Engineering education in the country at different levels.
In particular to this field of study, the program is designed such that graduates are expected to accomplish the following tasks with emphases on Signaling, Electrification and Telecommunication aspect of the railway system to be built in the country.
- Foresight, plan, deploy, operate and maintain railway systems.
- Analyse, design, handle, supervise, and upgrade modern equipment and systems in Railway Engineering.
- Participate in the assessment and development of railway technologies for the national transport network expansion. Moreover, work towards expanding and upgrading the railway transport capacity of the country.
Admission Requirements
The applicant must have B.Sc. degree in electrical (and computer) engineering or related fields from an accredited institution. Pass an entrance examination administered by the Department. The Departmental Graduate Committee (DGC) will decide on case-by-case basis for applicants with different backgrounds.