In 2012 Ethiopian Railways Corporation has established a core division of capacity building, named the Railway Academy Division in order to fill the skilled man-power gap and build the necessary human resource and technology capacity that will enable the country to sustainably undertake the activities of the sector by local expertise.

To achieve such a vision, the Ethiopian Railways Corporation-Railway Academy had been providing long-term formal education and short-term trainings in the Railway Engineering and management disciplines in collaboration with other institutes and by sending abroad. A total of 54 young engineers have obtained their MSc. degree in railway from abroad (Russia, China, UK). Most of these are engaged in the design and supervision, project management and contract administration activities of railway development projects currently and being trained as seconded staff in the operation & maintenance services of the commercially opened lines; and some are serving at the ERC as technical managers.

254 technicians were trained in China and deployed for Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit Service and more than 400 engineers have been educated at Master’s degree level in three railway engineering streams (Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical) in collaboration with Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT).

The Railway Academy, utilizing the class rooms of TVET Colleges along the corridor of Addis Ababa – Djibouti project, has trained more than 350 technical personnel in railway level-II occupational level. These trainees were previous graduates of the TVETs in related fields, and the Railway Academy has provided railway specific trainings to convert them to railway middle level professionals. Prior to this intervention, the Academy has published, in collaboration with TVET Agency, the national Occupational Standards of Railway middle level professional (Level I to Level V), which helped to undertake the training.

The Railway Academy has designed two separate projects to expand its operation, the first project is called Bishoftu Railway Academy Construction Project which aim is to design and construction of the physical infrastructure of the academy; and the other is EASTRIP Project which is designed to supply the software part of the academy like Procurement and supply of training curriculum, materials and equipment.

For the first project, a grant from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has been secured for the first part (Hardware Part) of the project. For the construction of the Academy, a 62 hectare land is secured from the National Regional State of Oromia, in Bishoftu City Administration. The construction project will cover the necessary class room, dormitories, and laboratories to begin the training at 1000 student intake capacity. The estimated time for construction is two years.