The  Chair  in  Railway  Engineering  in  the  Department  of  Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria was established in 1996 when Spoornet (now Transnet freight rail) initiated a partnership between industry and the University. This partnership revolves around three major aspects: graduate training, continuing education courses for industry and railway research.

On graduate level, students in Civil Engineering are taught the basics of Railway Engineering as part of their transportation studies. The Chair  currently  has on offer  9  different  short  courses  that  are presented by local and international experts in a wide range of railway engineering fields. All courses are registered with ECSA for Continued Professional Development (CPD) credits and some are also credit bearing with respect to the taught Honours post-graduate course in Transportation Engineering.