In 1909, Beijing Railway Management School, the predecessor of Beijing Jiaotong University, started the Railway Management Class, which is the beginning of the establishment of the School of Traffic and Transportation and is the cradle of the modern traffic and transportation education in China.

In 1921, three branches in Beijing, Shanghai and Tangshan were combined and named National Jiaotong University. Later, Beijing branch was named National Jiaotong University Beijing School, with a Railway Transportation Management Department.

In 1928, a student railway station internship system was established, clearly defining the educational philosophy of integrating knowledge and action.

In 1934, the Transportation Museum was expanded, pioneering the teaching activities of professional laboratories in transportation.

From 1938 to 1946, during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, it ran schools successively in Xiangtan and Xiangxiang of Hunan, Pingyue of Guizhou, and Chongqing along with the university.

In 1950, with reference to the teaching plans of Soviet railway universities, it trained professionals in railway transportation, added engineering training courses, and renamed the Department of Railway Transportation Management as the Department of Railway Transportation Engineering.

In 1951, the first transportation laboratory in New China focusing on teaching—the Railway Exhibition Hall (now known as the Transportation Equipment Teaching Hall)—was built. The Department of Railway Transportation Engineering was divided into the Department of Railway Operations and the Department of Railway Commerce.

In 1954, the first batch of postgraduates was trained in accordance with the complete set of teaching plans for Soviet railway operation.

In 1956, Railway Transportation Department supported Tangshan Railway School (now Southwest Jiaotong University), Changsha Railway School (now Central South University Railway Campus), Lanzhou Railway School (now Lanzhou Jiaotong University) in re-structuring or establishing their own railway transportation departments.

In 1972, according to the agreement of State Aid Plan for Tazara railway, the Department began to cultivate overseas students in railway transportation management.

After the resumption of the college entrance examination in 1977, the professional teaching plan was comprehensively revised, and courses such as engineering mathematics and computer science were added.

In 1981, State Council Academic Degrees Committee approved the master’s degree conferral right to Transportation Management Engineering Major, making it one of the first batch of disciplines authorized to confer master's degree in China.

In 1985, the Department of Railway Transportation was renamed the Department of Transportation Management Engineering. An undergraduate major in comprehensive transportation was added. The major of system analysis obtained the right to confer master's degrees.

In 1986, the State Council Academic Degrees Committee approved the doctor’s degree conferral right to Transportation Management Engineering Major, making it one of the first batch of disciplines authorized to confer doctoral degree in China.

In 1987, after the evaluation by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the State Education Commission, the discipline of Transportation Management Engineering was rated as a national key discipline.

In 1993, the major of Transportation Management Engineering was approved to set up a postdoctoral research station.

In 1996, Transportation Management Engineering Department, Management Science Research Institution, Pragmatic System Analysis Research Institution, Transportation System Simulation Center, and Automatic System Research Institution etc. constituted the School of Traffic and Transportation.

In 1997, the major of Systems Engineering obtained the right to confer doctoral degrees.

In 1998, in accordance with the new undergraduate program catalog issued by the Ministry of Education, the disciplines were adjusted to form two undergraduate majors: Traffic and Transportation and Transportation Engineering

In 1999, the Open Laboratory of Railway Transportation System Simulation affiliated to the Ministry of Railways was established. The major of System Analysis and Integration obtained the right to confer master's degrees.

In 2001, the discipline of Transportation Planning and Management (formerly the discipline of Transportation Management Engineering) was once again rated as a national key discipline. In the same year, an undergraduate major in E-commerce was added.

In 2002, the School of Traffic and Transportation was restructured to include Department of Transportation Management Engineering, Department of Traffic Engineering, Department of Traffic Information Management Engineering, Institute of Systems Engineering and Control, Institute of Systems Science and “Traffic Transportation System Simulation” Ministry of Railway Open Lab.

In 2003, the two undergraduate majors of Traffic and Transportation and Transportation Engineering implemented the talent cultivation mode for large-discipline categories, launched professional platform courses, and set four professional directions: Railway Transportation, Urban Rail Transit, Transportation and Logistics, and Road Traffic Engineering. The reform of the talent cultivation mode for large-discipline categories led the reform direction of undergraduate majors in transportation in the new century. The major of System Analysis and Integration obtained the right to confer doctoral degrees.

In 2004, in the National Discipline Evaluation, the discipline of Transportation Planning and Management ranked first, and the discipline of Systems Science shared the first place.

In 2005, the first-level discipline of Systems Science obtained the right to confer doctoral degrees.

In 2006, “Rail Traffic Control and Security National Key Lab” was approved by Ministry of Science and Technology, and our School was one of two construction institutions.

In 2007, the discipline of Transportation Planning and Management was rated as a national key discipline for the third time. The major of Traffic and Transportation passed the engineering education professional certification and was approved as a national-level characteristic major. The teaching team of the series courses on the transportation-related professional platform was rated as an excellent teaching team in Beijing.

In 2008, the Department of Urban Rail Transit was established.

In 2010, the teaching team of the series courses on the transportation-related professional platform was identified as a national-level teaching team. The major of Traffic and Transportation was included in the Ministry of Education's "Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program". The major of Traffic and Transportation added the professional direction of "Intelligent Transportation Engineering".

In 2011, it presided over and was awarded one second-class National Natural Science Award. The undergraduate major of Logistics Engineering was established based on Traffic and Transportation (the professional direction of Transportation and Logistics).

In 2012, our School participated in the construction of “Rail Traffic Security Collaborative Innovation Center” (2011 plan). Traffic Engineering Major was listed into “Outstanding Engineer Training Program” of Education Ministry. The Department of Logistics Engineering was established.

In 2014, Traffic Transportation National Virtual Simulation Experiment Center project was approved.

In 2015, the major of Traffic and Transportation added the professional direction of "High-speed Railway Passenger Transport Organization and Service".

In 2016, the foreign aid academic degree education program of Ministry of Commerce - Master's degree program in English in Traffic and Transportation Engineering (Railway Operations and Management) was launched.

In 2017, the key laboratory of transport industry of big data application technologies for comprehensive transport was approved by the Ministry of Transport. The Sino-foreign cooperative education program in Traffic and Transportation (Beijing Jiaotong University and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands) and the major in civil aviation transportation began its first enrollment of students respectively.

In 2019, three majors including Traffic and Transportation, Transportation Engineering and E-commerce were selected into the first batch of national-level first-class undergraduate major construction sites.

In 2020, with the approval of the Ministry of Transport, the Transport Equipment Center (Museum of Transportation Science) was listed among the first batch of "National Transportation Science Popularization Bases" and the "National Railway Popular Science Education Base" of China Railway Society; the first batch of "Key Laboratory of Railway Industry of Proactive Safety and Risk Control" of the National Railway Administration was added; and the Department of Civil Aviation Transportation was established.

In 2021, the major of Logistics Engineering was rated as a national first-class undergraduate major construction site.

In 2022, the School was approved as a Key Laboratory of Transport Industry of Comprehensive Transportation Theory by the Ministry of Transport; Museum of Transportation Science was recognized as a "National Popular Science Education Base" by China Association for Science and Technology, and listed into the first batch of Special Practice Teaching Bases on the Spirit of Science launched by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

In 2023, the Institute of Systems Science was established separately, and the Department of Transport Intelligent Systems and Safety was set up during the reorganization of the National Key Lab.