Lanzhou Jiaotong University (formerly Lanzhou Railway College) was founded in May 1958. It was formed by the main departments of Beijing Railway College (now Beijing Jiaotong University) and Tangshan Railway College (now Southwest Jiaotong University). It is the third undergraduate Railway University in China, formerly under the Ministry of Railway. In 2000, the system of "co-construction between the central and local governments, giving priority to local government management" was implemented. In April 2003, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, Lanzhou Railway College was renamed Lanzhou Jiaotong University.

At the time of its establishment, more than 340 faculty members, such as Professor Lin Damei, Professor Hu Chunnong, Professor Shen Zhiyang, Professor Sun Qiyin, Professor Zhang Dianzhi, Professor Ban Jichao, Professor Zhaozhen, one of the founders of China's railway transportation discipline, and Professor Shen Zhiyang, a famous railway track expert, and Professor Sun Qiyin, a famous cable communication expert, Professor Zhang Dianzhi, a famous mechanical After that, the Ministry of Railways recruited a group of associate doctorates and postgraduates of science and technology from Soviet Union to enrich the teaching staff. The school was founded and enrolled 446 students from 7 undergraduate majors.

The school has always adhered to the fine tradition of "rigorous management and strict requirements" of Jiaotong University, focusing on training high-level professionals with solid foundation, broad knowledge, strong ability, high quality, innovative spirit and international vision. Civil Engineering, Water Supply and Drainage Science and Engineering, Transportation, Vehicle Engineering, Rail Transit Signal and Control, Electrical Engineering and its Automation, Communication Engineering and other rail transit disciplines have obvious advantages. In 2005, the evaluation of undergraduate teaching level of the Ministry of Education reached the conclusion of "Excellence". In 2011, it was selected into the second batch of excellent engineers'education and training plan of the Ministry of Education to implement the university. In 2012, it was selected into the Ministry of Education's "Typical Employment Experience Colleges for College Graduates in 2011-2012" and the second batch of national demonstration schools of deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform in 2017. The campus covers an area of 1,565 mu, with a total construction area of 810,300 square meters, a total fixed assets value of 1.601 billion yuan, a total value of 317 million yuan for teaching, scientific research and experimental equipment, and a library collection of 2.852 million copies. There are 61 undergraduate majors enrolled, with more than 22,000 undergraduates, 82% of whom are engineering students. There are 4351 postgraduates, including 4035 postgraduates and 316 doctoral postgraduates. There are 2663 higher vocational students and 260 foreign students. There are 1 national comprehensive reform pilot specialty, 6 national characteristic specialties and 12 provincial characteristic specialties; 1 National University Science and technology park, 1 national talent training model innovation experimental zone, 4 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 1 National virtual simulation experimental teaching center, 11 national engineering practical education centers and 12 provincial experimental teaching demonstration centers.

The school is one of the first batches of universities with the right to grant master's degree in China. It became a doctoral degree granting institution in 2003. The school has distinct characteristics and complete disciplines, covering eight disciplines such as engineering, science, economics, management, literature, law, art and pedagogy. There are four post-doctoral research mobile stations, six first-level disciplines authorized by doctoral degree, 24 first-level disciplines authorized by master's degree, and nine first-level disciplines authorized by master's degree. At present, five disciplines (groups) have been selected as the first-class disciplines construction projects in Gansu Province, including two dominant disciplines and three characteristic disciplines of category A. There are 19 provincial key disciplines, including 17 provincial key construction disciplines and 2 provincial key cultivation disciplines. The Ministry of Education ranked 8th in the third round of discipline evaluation of "Transportation Engineering"; in the fourth round of discipline evaluation, the three disciplines of school transportation engineering, civil engineering, environmental science and engineering were rated as B (ranked 20%-30%) disciplines, mechanical engineering disciplines were ranked as B (ranked 30%-40%) disciplines, information and communication engineering, chemical engineering and technology disciplines were ranked as C-40%. Class (ranked 60%-70%) disciplines.

The school has a contingent of 230 high-quality talents represented by two double-appointed academicians, one special professor of Yangtze River scholars, four national millions of talent project candidates, three national outstanding talents in the new century, 41 leading talents of Gansu Province and other national experts at provincial and ministerial levels. There are 1418 full-time teachers, 764 teachers with senior professional titles, accounting for 53.88% of full-time teachers, including 243 professors and 497 associate professors; 1175 teachers with doctoral and master degrees, accounting for 82.86% of full-time teachers, of which 348 are doctoral degrees and 827 are master degrees. There are four innovative teams of Jiang scholars, one national teaching team, 12 provincial teaching teams and 11 provincial famous teachers.

The school continuously improves the level of scientific research and social services. It is the earliest and largest university in the country to undertake scientific research projects on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway Project has won the National Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress in 2008 (ranking first among the participating universities in the country). The achievements of many projects under its auspices have successively won the Second Prize for National Scientific and Technological Progress, the Special Prize for Railway Scientific and Technological Progress, First prize and other major scientific and technological achievements awards. In the past two years, 1494 papers published by teachers have been searched by CSTPCD, which is a database of scientific papers and citations in China. They have undertaken 393 projects of various scientific research projects at all levels, won 30 provincial and ministerial awards for scientific and technological achievements, authorized 345 patents, and received an average annual amount of about 100 million yuan. There are 2 National Engineering Research centers, 14 provincial and ministerial engineering research centers and 15 provincial and ministerial key laboratories.

Sixty years of hard work, pioneering and enterprising, following the school motto of "Shangde, inspiration, erudition and devotion", has gradually formed the fine school style of "striving for progress, hard work, simple, hard study, rigorous learning" and the teaching characteristics of "rigorous learning, strict requirements and strict training", which has developed into a multi-disciplinary, coordinated development with engineering as the main subject and the overall strength of running a school in Gansu Province. The leading teaching and research universities in Colleges and universities build universities for high-level universities in Gansu Province, universities for the National "Basic Capacity Building Project of Universities in Central and Western China", demonstration bases for overseas students from the Ministry of Education, selection and training schools for Air Force Reserve officers, high-level athletes recruitment and training colleges and universities that have recommended excellent undergraduate graduates to enter postgraduate qualifications free of examination.

The school enrolls students for the whole country, and there are plenty of students. Among them, Gansu Province has the highest admission line for two batches of science and engineering students. In the past three years, the university has maintained the high employment rate and quality of undergraduate students, and has become the largest number of university students in rail transit industry in China. Since its establishment, a group of outstanding alumni, such as Lai Yuanming, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wang Shi, former chairman of the board of directors of Vanke Group, have been trained, with a total of more than 160,000 graduates. With their good qualities of "simple thinking style, solid basic theory and strong engineering practice ability", the majority of graduates have been widely praised by employers and widely recognized by the society.