In the 30s of the last century, namely in 1931, the Institute of Transcaucasian Railway Transport Engineers was established in Tbilisi, and later in 1936, the Tbilisi Institute of Railway Transport Engineers was established on its basis, which at that time had 5 faculties: operation of railways; construction of railways; mechanical electric transport; industrial and civil construction. 18 cathedras functioned in the institute. The institute was located in today's Building I of GTU. Its office-laboratories were equipped at the highest technical level available at that time.

In 1959, the aforementioned higher education institution merged with the Polytechnic Institute of Georgia (later the Technical University of Georgia), where #58 "Management of Wagon Construction, Wagon Farming and Railway Transport Process Management", #62 "Electric Transport" and #100 "Railway Automation", telemechanics and communication cathedras were established. In 2006, as a result of the structural reorganization at GTU, the Faculty of Transport and the Faculties of Mechanical and Mechanical Engineering were united and renamed as the Faculty of Transport and Mechanical Engineering (now the Faculty of Transport Systems and Mechanical Engineering), where the above-mentioned departments continued to function under the same names as departments, where undergraduate teaching was carried out under the educational program "Transportation Organization and Management" (with 4 railway modules: "Transportation organization and management on railway transport"; "Wagons and carriage management"; "Train traction and traction management"; "Automatics, telemechanics and communication on railway transport"). Teaching in the master's degree was carried out in the program "Railway transport", and in the doctoral program in the program "Operation of railway transport".

At the beginning of 2013, the "Railway Transport" department #510 (currently N506) was created by uniting all four directions, where teaching at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels is currently carried out under the educational program "Transport" (since 2012). The department has been headed by Professor Avtandil Sharvashidze since its establishment.

The main scientific directions of the department are:

• issues of structural perfection, repair and dynamics of railway rolling stock (locomotives and wagons) and its individual units;
• issues of improving the organization and management of the transportation process on railway transport (increasing throughput and carrying capacity), issues of development and improvement of railway stations and junctions;
• issues of improvement of mechanical and electrical equipment of railway energy supply and electric rolling stock;
• Issues of improvement and diagnosis of railway automation and telemechanics equipment.

In the department, bachelors, masters and academic doctors are trained directly in the field of railways. Training in the department is also carried out on the professional educational program "Railway Transportation". Since the establishment of the master's course in GTU (1996) until now, more than 200 master's theses have been prepared in the railway specialty. Since 2000, 45 theses have been defended and researchers have been awarded relevant scientific and academic degrees (2 doctors of technical sciences, 12 candidates of technical sciences, 31 academic doctors). 

The department has computer equipment, laboratories, a simulator, study rooms, lecture halls equipped with projectors and corresponding material and technical base (stands, mock-ups, devices), a training workshop.

Employees of the department actively participate in local and international conferences and symposiums, publish their works in international journals. More than 50 Georgian-language textbooks, 15 monographs, many methodical instructions, lecture courses and scientific articles have been published by the employees of the department. The professor of the department is the owner of many inventions, copyrights and patents. The department has special computer programs, new modern literature in Georgian and foreign languages and visual aids (posters, magazines, stands, models, etc.).

A number of grant topics have been developed in the department over the years. On the basis of memorandums, the Department of "Railway Transport" carries out production practices at the line facilities of JSC "Georgian Railways", JSC "Electrovagonshemshenebel" factory and "Rustavi Wagon Manufacturing Company" LLC, "Elmavalmshenebel" LLC factory, where talented young people have a perspective for the next employment (The central apparatus of JSC "Georgian Railways" and all its line facilities, as well as all the above-mentioned facilities and the metro represent the main organizations for the employment of young specialists).

Taking into account the human resource working in scientific-pedagogical activity, the Department of "Railway Transport" of the Faculty of Transport Systems and Mechanical Engineering of GTU has been carrying out important scientific-research and teaching-methodical works for the education of the student youth as a qualified specialist and further development of the faculty.