The Faculty was founded in 1929, at first it was known as the Tractive Faculty, then – as the Mechanical Faculty.
Graduates of the Faculty are engaged in exploitation and repair of rolling stock, handling, construction and road machines, vehicles, thermal power plants; creation and construction of machines and systems; control and management of production; safety of manufacturing processes; and protection of the environment. Over the years the Faculty has trained more than 15,000 highly skilled professionals. Many of them occupy positions of responsibility in the Russian Federation.
Scientific Achievements of the Faculty

• The world first tractive and heating engineering testing of locomotives; the first prototypes of magistral diesel locomotives with electrical and mechanical power transmission. On the initiative and with the participation of the Faculty scientists the world's first diesel depot (in Ashgabat) was created in 1932. Beginning of development of hydraulic apparatus for locomotives and ships; two-stroke diesel engine which was unrivalled in the world for that time; participation in engineering locomotives with steam condensation and locomotives of IS (ИС) and FD (ФД) series; the first versions of automatic train driver for freight train; the first domestic electronic digital speedometer for locomotives.
• Construction of hydraulic shock absorber (developed in cooperation with the Kalinin railcar plant); rational schemes of spring suspension for high-speed passenger («Russian Troika» («Русская тройка») and ER-200 (ЭР-200)) and freight cars, electric trains and locomotives; a number of unique testing stands; partaking in optimization of trolley structural elements for high-speed train «Falcon» («Сокол»); several dozen models of rail cars with technical and economic parameters pertaining to the cars of the new generation; fundamentally new technology of freight rail cars repair which helps to extend their lifetime; works on the survey and extension of the lifetime of Petersburg metro escalators and rail cars.
• New waypoints and construction machines and equipment, testing stands, lubricating oils, bearings and sealing caps, driving gears of rail car generators, driver shafts, pumps, etc. The nation's leading scientific school of mechanized track machines and instruments was created by the Faculty scientists.
• Extensive research and innovation works to extend the lifetime of the disc brakes, splines, details of the diesel engines piston-cylinder group, wearing surfaces of automatic coupling and other parts of the rolling stock, as well as the wheel pairs.