by SUN Jingzhi

A skills competition rooted in China's urban rail operations is making its WorldSkills debut in Shanghai.

Rail Vehicle Technology, a new official skill at the 48th WorldSkills Competition, tests maintenance, installation, commissioning and fault diagnosis. It first appeared as a demonstration event at WorldSkills Lyon 2024.

Behind the contest is a broader shift in the rail industry. As urban and regional systems become more complex, technicians are increasingly expected to understand whole vehicles rather than a single component or maintenance task.

"A competitor may need to diagnose both mechanical and electrical faults and understand systems including pantographs, doors, bogies and the vehicle as a whole," HUANG Kaili, a coach for Rail Vehicle Technology at Shanghai Communications Polytechnic, told Jiemian News.

The college is Shanghai's only higher vocational institution offering urban rail transit majors. Its rail school allows students to take courses across six specialties, including vehicle technology, electromechanical systems, power supply, communications and signaling, engineering and operations management.

The China Association of Metros has also noted that technologies such as rail cloud systems are blurring traditional disciplinary boundaries, increasing demand for technicians who can work across multiple systems.

At the same time, rail itself is moving beyond city limits.

Shanghai is expanding a suburban rail network designed to connect the city more closely with neighboring parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. These lines sit between conventional metro systems and high-speed rail, typically operating at 100 to 160km/h and serving both urban commuting and intercity travel.

Shanghai's master plan calls for more than 1,000km of suburban and express rail lines by 2035. Several are already under construction, including projects intended to link up with neighboring cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

That expansion is also changing how workers are trained.

The Shanghai Airport Link Line, which connects Pudong and Hongqiao airports, opened in 2024 as the city's first newly built suburban railway. Nearly 360 students from Shanghai Communications Polytechnic have already taken jobs on the line, including as drivers and maintenance staff.

For the college, Shanghai Urban Railway Operation Co., Ltd. has become a major employer. Of 331 graduates in 2026, 141 joined the company, or 42.6% of the class, up from 33.6% a year earlier and 24.3% two years before.

XU Ming, the company's deputy general manager, told Jiemian News that when the Airport Link Line entered service, its own training facilities and instructors were not yet sufficient to meet staffing needs.

The solution was to work more closely with vocational schools — and eventually across provincial borders.

In 2024, the company partnered with Shanghai Communications Polytechnic, Zhejiang Institute of Communications and Nanjing Vocational Institute of Railway Technology to launch a “2+1” training program for suburban railway workers.

Students spend their first two years at their home institution, then apply through a unified company recruitment process. Those selected spend their third year at the partner school specializing in their target job.

The seven core roles are divided among the three colleges. Shanghai focuses on track and power-supply maintenance, Zhejiang on electromechanical and vehicle maintenance, and Nanjing on train driving, signaling and station operations.

The model allows students to begin job-specific training before graduation. Instead of starting lengthy training only after joining the company — which can take as long as two years for some roles — students can move more quickly into certification and work.

The program is now expanding.

Shanghai Urban Railway Operation has added Shanghai University of Engineering Science and Shanghai Institute of Technology, bringing university students and postgraduates into the system. The original “2+1” approach is being extended into an “N+1” model: undergraduates can follow a “3+1” structure, while some postgraduates may follow a “5+1” path, with the final year devoted to job-specific training.

The company is also working with the three vocational colleges on a set of eight textbooks for suburban railway jobs, with the full series expected by 2027.

For Shanghai, the significance goes beyond staffing individual lines.

As suburban rail systems in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang become more interconnected, operating standards and job requirements are also beginning to converge. That creates a stronger case for training systems that cross city and provincial boundaries.

WorldSkills offers a visible snapshot of those changing expectations. Rail Vehicle Technology rewards competitors who can diagnose complex faults across multiple systems. The regional training programs developing around Shanghai are trying to build the same versatility into the workforce.

As the Yangtze River Delta's rail network becomes more integrated, the people who operate and maintain it are starting to be trained in much the same way.