Already in the first academic year 1899/1900, the first year of the field of civil engineering was opened. The first professor of the professional subject of road, tunnel and railway construction was Emil Mašík. In 1901, the inspector of Austrian state railways Ing. Gustav Červinka. Lectures on the subject of railway construction were started in 1901. Ing. Gustav Červinka, who was appointed full professor in the fall of 1906, served as the head of the institute from 1901 until 1907, when he tragically died. In his short six-year career, he was involved, among other things, in the reconstruction of Brno railway stations, in 1905 he published the first book in the field of rail transport entitled “Turnouts and turnout connections”, which was at the time a unique work in our railway literature. Occupancy of the vacant chair of railway construction after Ing. Červinka had to extort his listeners through protest meetings, such as the all-technical meeting on April 1, 1908.
The inspector of the Austro-Hungarian State Railway, Ing., was appointed as a new professor. Emil Mašík (1908 to 1925), who continued the tradition established by his predecessor. In the professional world, his work, published as early as 1899, dealing with the driving of vehicles in curves and solving this complex problem in a clear way with regard to elevation and widening of the track gauge, gained attention in the professional world. He wrote the first Brno scripts about roads and railways, and in 1910 he published the first Czech “Calculation of Railway Overhead”. He made his mark in the history of our railways mainly with works dealing with the improvement of the structure of the railway top. He submitted the first proposal for flexible fastening of rails, which was patented in many European countries.
After his death in 1925, he became the professor of railway construction František Müller (1927 to 1938). Prof. Müller published theoretical articles on the directional adjustments of linear engineering structures. He also engaged in practical activities. He was the leader of the group that was preparing the construction of the second track of the main line Česká Třebová – Přerov and the reconstruction of the main railway station in Olomouc. Czech technology acquired an excellent practitioner at the time, after whose death in the autumn of 1938 the professorship of railway construction remained vacant until the closure of Czech universities.
Since 1903, the operating board of state railways, Ing. Antonín Roštlapil. After his death, this subject was taken over by Ing. Ota Veletovský (worked from 1921 to 1938), who became a full professor of railway construction II after the division of civil and cultural engineering into engineering construction A and B. (station buildings and facilities). The Institute solved numerous practical tasks in the field of construction and reconstruction of railway stations and proposals for modifications of the ČSD railway network. The complementary subject of railway transport and its security was taught by professor Ing. Dr. František Sklenář, who published several teaching texts in the then “Donát’s fund”.
The Institute of Railway Construction II was established by the reorganization of the Department of Engineering Construction in 1922.
The forced closure of Czech universities on November 17, 1939, interrupted all activities of Brno technology.
After the Second World War, the school was opened with the same organizational composition as before 1939. Institute of Railway Construction II, led by prof. Veletovský, provided the teaching of the following subjects: construction and equipment of railway stations, railway transport and its security, basics of railway construction and maintenance of railway structures. In June 1945, the former Institute of Road, Railway and Tunnel Construction was split into the Institute of Road Construction and the Institute of Railway and Tunnel Construction, headed by prof. Ing. Dr. Vojtěch Mencl, DrSc., who headed the institute from 1945 to 1955. The Institute of Railway Construction II was later managed by prof. Ing. Dr. Ladislav Záruba.
In 1951, the Technical University in Brno was abolished and a large part of the buildings, scientific and personnel capacities were taken over by the newly established Military Technical Academy. Soon, however, practice required the resumption of the teaching of railway disciplines in civil engineering in its entirety, which happened in 1958, when all types of transport were merged into a joint Department of Transport Constructions.
Already in 1950, the excellent expert prof. Ing. Dr. Josef Vaverka, DrSc., holder of the Order of Labor and laureate of the Klement Gottwald State Prize. Before coming to the school, he was the director of the State Railways in Brno. The pivotal work of prof. Vaverky was a scientific justification and a proposal for the practical realization of a new advanced construction of the railway top – contactless track. The scientific basis of his work is primarily the article “Contactless track and the technology of its construction”, which was well received abroad. As an excellent expert, Prof. Vaverka is regularly entrusted with the preparation of opponent’s assessments of state and departmental research tasks in the area of railway top and bottom. He has published more than 70 scientific works. Together with prof. Klimeš created the first nationwide textbook “Railway Construction I.” In the years 1953 to 1955, prof. Vaverka as rector of the University of Civil Engineering and from 1957 to 1959 as dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering BUT in Brno.
The subject of stations and nodes was lectured in 1965 to 1967 by Ing. Dr. Rudolf Nedvěd. From 1964, he took over the lectures on the subject of railway construction from prof. Ing. Josef Marek, DrSc. (1964 to 1982), who in 1965 was entrusted with the management of the Department of Transport Construction at the Faculty of Civil Engineering. He also taught subjects: design and geometry of the railway route, construction of railway superstructure, dynamics and security of railway transport construction and mechanization and execution of railway constructions and is the author of more than 60 professional and scientific papers. After the departure of Prof. Marko for a well-deserved rest, the teaching of railway construction is not provided by a teacher with the rank of professor.
In 1972, he was appointed head of the department of prof. Ing. František Smýkal, CSc., who developed mainly road and urban traffic engineering. He died suddenly in 1974.
Since 1975, the department was headed by doc. Ing. Břetislav Havíř, CSc., who completed his habilitation in 1966 and in 1967 was appointed and appointed associate professor for the field of railway construction at the Faculty of Civil Engineering. During his active activity, he was a successor and promoter of the ideas of Prof. Vaverky, of which he was a scientific aspirant in previous years. He published a number of university scripts and scientific publications mainly in the field of railway superstructure. With his professional erudition and human approach, he contributed significantly to the popularization of railway construction. After his retirement in 1987, there was a two-year period when Prof. Kablena from the Department of Geotechnics and doc. Jůza from the Department of Road Construction.
After 1989, the Rector of BUT in Brno was entrusted with the management of the Department of Transport Constructions, assistant professor Ing. Pavel Zvěřina, CSc., who is a student of prof. Mark and doc. Havíře, under whose supervision he completed his scientific post-graduate studies in the field of railway construction.
In 1991, institutes were created at the Faculty of Civil Engineering. The department of transport structures is divided and Ing. Pavlíček and Ing. Zvěrina give the Scientific Council of the Faculty an incentive to establish the Institute of Land Transport and the Institute of Railway Structures and Buildings, which is accepted. The re-establishment of an independent railway institute completes the history of the establishment and development of the institute. After bankruptcy proceedings in 1991, Ing. Zverina, who earned his habilitation in 1994 by working on contactless rail.
So far, the last change in the management of the institute took place in 2010, when after the departure of doc. In retirement, the management of game was taken over by doc. Ing. Otto Plášek, Ph.D.