1952 Relevant majors from Shanghai Jiaotong University and Fudan University merged in and formed Railway-road Department of Tongji University.

1953 Railway-road Department of Tongji University divided into Road Department and Railway Department.

1954 After the highway and urban road discipline from Tsinghua University merged in, the Road Department was renamed as Department of road and Bridge.At the same time, the railway discipline from Zhejiang University merged in our railway department.

1958 Department of Road and Bridge merged with railway department forming a new department called Railway,Road and Bridge Engineering Department( aka Road-Bridge Department)

1959 The Ministry of Transportation set up “Ministry of Transportation Road Research Institution of Tongji University”.

1973 Road-Bridge Department was renamed as Road and Bridge Engineering Department after railway discipline of Tongji and the major of locomotives & vehicles from Shanghai Jiao Tong University moved to Shanghai Railway College.

1979 The first traffic engineering research laboratory of chinese mainland was founded.

1982 Department of Road and Traffic Engineering was formed in Tongji. 

1995 Shanghai Railway College merged with Shanghai Railway Medical College, forming Shanghai Railway University. 

1996 Shanghai Institute of Urban Construction and Shanghai Institute of Building Material Industry were merged into Tongji University. Along with the change, their related desciplines were absorbed in the Department of Road and Traffic Engineering.

2000 Shanghai Railway University and Tongji University merged together, forming the School of Transportation.

2000 The Institute of Rail Transit (IRT) of Tongji University was founded.

2001 The National Maglev Center was founded.

2002 Road and Traffic Engineering Department was divided into Rroad and Airport Engineering Department and Traffic Engineering Department. The school was renamed to be the School of Transportation Engineering.

2003 Railway Construction Engineering Department from the College of Civil Engineering merged in .

2004 Railway Construction Engineering Department was renamed to Urban Transit and Railway Engineering Department.

2007 The whole school moved to Jiading campus.

2012 Tongji University became the supporting organization of the National Maglev Center.

2024 The new College of Transportation was formed by merging with Institute of Rail Transit and the National Maglev Center.