The new employees of the railway infrastructure manager in Slovakia (Železnice Slovenskej republiky, ŽSR) employ the transport laboratory the most. They employees are engaged in regular laboratory exercises after passing the theoretical exams but before being allowed to operate the railway transport independently.
Students of technical secondary schools are also frequent visitors of the transport laboratory. One of the advantages of this cooperation is also promoting the university in the public area. Many students, who visited the transport laboratory during the secondary school, continue their study at the Department of Railway Transport as well.
3.4. Cooperation between the university and the industry
The laboratory exercises are by no means the only opportunity for the students of the Department of Railway Transport to get new practical skills. The Department of Railway Transport have a very good long-term cooperation with the railway infrastructure managers, railway operators, forwarders and other companies from the railway business in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic. The students are able to take advantage of this cooperation and may take part at:
� additional lectures with the industry experts,
� technical excursions,
� obligatory technical practice,
� optional technical practice.
Additional lectures with the industry experts are usually organized for each technical subject at the end of the semester. The lecturers are often former students of the University of Žilina who have become successful managers in the railway or forwarding business. The students are very interested in these lectures although they are not obligatory.
The technical excursions are provided for all the students through the whole academic year. The focus of these excursions is in those areas which are not possible to practice in the transport laboratory. For example the technical excursions are organized in the areas of:
� production of rails,
� unconventional transport systems,
� forming of trains in the railways yards,
� loading, fixing and unloading of goods,
� logistics,
� testing of the railway vehicles,
� operation of undergrounds,
� and others.
Each student has to pass obligatory technical practices. It is realised at the railways stations and at the workplaces which ensure the railway transport. Each student has to pass a technical practice at different workplaces for 13 weeks. For every week, a minimum of four hours of the technical practice is obligatory.
In case that the student is interested in the technical practice for a longer time, he has an opportunity to do it individually. The Department of Railway Transport has signed bilateral agreements with the railway infrastructure manager in Slovakia (ŽSR) and with the passenger and freight railway operators (ZSSK and ZSSK Cargo), where the students are able to pass their technical practices.
3.5. Final works of students
The very good cooperation between the Department of Railway Transport and the industry reflects also in preparing the students’ final works. Many final works become topics inspired or directly brought from the industry.