During the recent years, several industry and academic experts have called for a closer collaboration between academia and industry to improve the alignment between education and post-graduate careers. At the same time, shortline railroads have limited resources available to investigate system improvements and new technologies. Collaboration between a shortline railroad and a university involved in railroad engineering education and research is a true win-win solution for both parties. It has been proven that the most efficient student learning takes places when solving real-life challenges, while students have an open mind for alternative technologies and novel approaches to address challenges. This paper highlights a growing collaboration between Lake Superior and Ishpeming(LS&I)Railroad and Michigan Tech University(Michigan Tech)in railroad engineering education and development. The collaborative structure and presented projects function as examples for other railroad companies and universities to explore mutually beneficial partnerships. The paper provides a short introduction to a nontraditional, discovery-based undergraduate educational program, called Enterprises, that operate like small companies and use faculty and industry guided sponsored projects to serve as the framework and motivation for undergraduate student learning. In addition to the introduction to Enterprises and how they collaborate with industry companies, this paper will highlight two projects conducted by Michigan Tech students with Lake Superior and Ishpeming(LS&I)Railroad; one to develop track design alternatives, including cost estimates, for LS&I to replace a current weigh-in-motion scale and another to evaluate the rail lubrication system currently used by LS&I and to develop recommendations for new, improved system.
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