Photo: Jeppe Aagaard Jeppesen

Future engineers learning more about the rail industry

Transport og logistik
DTU and the Danish Rail Sector Association are extending a contract designed to allow future engineers to learn more about the many fields of work in the rail sector.

When young engineers are out looking for work after graduation, the rail sector rarely tops the list. But now, partnering with DTU, the Danish Rail Sector Association (Banebranchen) wants to change this because the railways are so important in creating a sustainable and climate-friendly transport system in Demark in future. That is why—when the contract with the Centre for Railway Technology at DTU (RailTech DTU) was extended—it was decided to focus more on collaboration in teaching:

“Engineers are in great demand, so to encourage them to take an interest in the rail sector, we will fund a new initiative to develop case studies for teaching at DTU, as a way of increasing awareness of the many professionally exciting engineering jobs in our industry,” says Søren Boysen, head of signalling systems at Banedanmark and chairman of the Danish Rail Sector Association.

He hopes this means that more engineering graduates will consider the rail sector when applying for jobs, as there are many opportunities both nationally and internationally.

"Engineers are in great demand, so to encourage them to take an interest in the rail sector, we will fund a new initiative to develop case studies for teaching at DTU, as a way of increasing awareness of the many professionally exciting engineering jobs in our industry."
Søren Boysen, head of signalling systems at Banedanmark and chairman of the Danish Rail Sector Association

Railway case studies on popular courses
DTU has offered special railway courses in the past, developed in collaboration with the industry, but these have not attracted enough students to meet the need for graduates in the industry.

“When the engineers start their first job, they are often given peer training and deployed on specific, railway-related tasks at their new workplace. So there is always a discussion to be had about how specialized our programmes should be. We also know that the students show great interest in the more general courses in subjects such as lean and risk management. That is why we aim to develop suitable rail case studies for these courses and also for technical courses on IoT, data, construction, electrical and mechanical systems, etc., aiming to broaden the reach,” explains Henrik Sylvan, Head of Centre, Railtech DTU.

He is in charge of case study development, and he expects DTU to finish the first ones by the autumn. He also emphasizes how important it is from a societal perspective for DTU and the Danish Rail Sector Association to work together to solve graduate recruitment issues in the rail industry:

“Railways play a crucial role in creating the integrated and climate-friendly public transport systems of the future, an area covered by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. If we fail to spark our students’ interest, the Danish rail sector will experience a worsening shortage of engineers in just a few years,” says Henrik Sylvan.

About RailTech DTU

RailTech DTU, the Centre for Rail Technology, was officially established in January 2016. The centre is a collaboration between eight DTU departments and the Danish Rail Sector Association , which is the industry body for the Danish rail sector.


Railtech DTU is tasked with coordinating the rail-related activities at DTU in study programmes and innovation, and acting as a link to authorities and private enterprises.


The eight DTU departments:

  • DTU Management Engineering
  • DTU Compute
  • DTU Fotonik
  • DTU Electrical Engineering
  • DTU Diplom
  • DTU Wind Energy
  • DTU Mechanical Engineering
  • DTU Civil Engineering