Our society links enthusiastic Imperial students with the rail and transport industry in the UK. We provide a great stepping stone to a career in the sector. We have links to big names in the industry, some of whom were members of this very club, so you would be hard pressed to find a better way to jump-start your career!
Welcome to this formal introduction for our society. Here, we outline the things we do, our values and our goals. Read along!
Our Vision
‘Fostering Closer Ties Between Our Members And The Transport Industry’
Our Goals
To expose interested students to the Transport Industry and the available career options
To harness and develop the interest of members in the Railway and Transport Industry
To provide platforms for members to understand and to appreciate our Heritage and History
Society History
1946: Inaugural meeting of the then Railway Society.
1947: First set of lectures held with limited success by the society which at this point was a small network of rail enthusiasts.
1950s and 1960s: ICRS became a popular society offering interesting visits and lectures. The name of Imperial College was used to attract big rail industry names.
1970s: With the decline in the UK rail industry, interest in it and the society died back. By 1983, the society disappeared from the union books.
2003: An Imperial College member of staff, Mr K Winter, discovered photos from the archives and with his colleague J Barnes, restarted the society (with student help of course).
2005: First meeting of the reborn society with notable alumni.
2013: The society is now continued by another student committee and we hope the new look of the society will reflect shifting attitudes toward transport throughout society.
2017: Aviation division is officially opened, marking the expansion of the original Rail Society to Transport Society.
What We Do
ICRTS provides unique and captivating transport-themed events within a thriving community. Throughout the year, we’ll visit museums and railways at discounted prices, attempt DLR and tube challenges and partake in joint remote quizzes. We’ll even gain hands-on engineering experience maintaining a working heritage railway during our annual volunteering trip! ICRTS also offers exclusive front-line access to the industry with invaluable presentations and networking opportunities with other societies and the industry. If you are keen to gain insight into the vibrant and growing transport sector or simply have interest for planes/trains/buses/ships, then join us!
For more details, check us out on:
- Our website: https://union.ic.ac.uk/scc/railway/home
- Union sign up page: https://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/activities/a-to-z/rail-and-transport
- Membership: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=B3WJK4zudUWDC0-CZ8PTB3nZUNITakVFtZtLqQu9WoFURENKREwxQlhBRkdXMUlSNEMzVDJFWldPNS4u
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/railandtransport/
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/ic.railway.transport
- Instant Messenger: https://www.facebook.com/messages/t/ic.railway.transport
- CSP Email: icrs@imperial.ac.uk
About the Transport Industry
A Truly Massive Industry
It goes without saying that transport is key to supporting developed and developing economies. It connects businesses and people across the globe and as a result It is a multi-billion pound industry involving state of the art technologies and some of the largest infrastructure projects in the world. In the UK alone, the government is investing heavily in transport including projects such as Crossrail, the largest infrastructure project in Europe coming in at £14.9bn, the controversial High Speed Two and the plans for major airport expansions in the south east.
Multidisciplinary Projects
Transport is a multidisciplinary industry requiring civil engineers who focus on the structures, tunnels and bridges supporting the transport links; mechanical and aeronautical engineers who are the brains behind the state of the art trains that are rolling out of the factories of Bombardier and Siemens and electrical engineers who create the advanced signalling and monitoring systems to allow the trains to run in a controlled manner.
It’s not all about engineering however. Transport projects effect the way we do business and can impact on businesses themselves. There are multiple parties with a vested interest in transport and it takes competent commercial managers to get the best out of a project for society
