SWJTU has built up the comprehensive scientific research bases that cover rail transit infrastructure, mobile equipment, traction power supply, communication signal & train control, transportation organization & dispatch and command and advanced material for rail transit; and established the first-class scientific research team.

The university has built the State Key Laboratory of Traction Power, National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technique Research Center, 6 national engineering laboratories, 5 key laboratories of the Ministry of Education, 10 international cooperation bases, 31 provincial laboratories and other platforms of sci-tech innovation at the national, ministerial and provincial level.

The research results of railway macrosystem dynamics, which are characterized by “Shen-Hedrick-Elkin’s Theory”, “Zhai-Sun Model” and the dynamics of coupled systems in high-speed trains, are advanced internationally, playing the irreplaceable role in the technological innovation of domestic high-speed trains; the complete set of technology and equipment developed by SWJTU for the comprehensive monitoring of high-speed railway traction power supply and the safe operation of high-speed railway pantograph-catenary system with completely independent intellectual property rights occupies over 60% of the domestic markets; a series of research results on high-speed railway bridge wind resistance, high-speed turnout dynamics and domestication, and traffic tunnel structural safety are at the international advanced level, which strongly support the construction and safe operation of a host of major national projects such as the rail traffic, especially the high speed rail; and in the field of maglev transportation technology, the first EMS maglev vehicle of China and the first high-temperature superconducting maglev vehicle worldwide are researched by SWJTU. In recent years, SWJTU has crowned among industry-oriented colleges and universities, scientific research institutions and enterprises on its major scientific and technological achievements and national science and technology awards obtained in the sphere of rail traffic.

SWJTU has long maintained close partnership with the competent authority of the industry - National Railway Administration of the People's Republic of China, and large-scale key enterprises including China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., CRRC, China Railway Engineering Corporation and China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC). The former Ministry of Railways granted a special investment of RMB 300 million to support the construction of the National Laboratory for Rail Transportation.

Moreover, SWJTU has established long-term relations of cooperation and communication with International Union of Railways (UIC), standard organizations, famous colleges and universities, well-known enterprises like Siemens, as well as internationally renowned academic institutions and periodicals of the field.