In 2021, the implementation of the federal project “Professionalitet” began. The project was developed as part of the Strategy for the Socio-Economic Development of the Russian Federation until 2030 and is aimed at a comprehensive reboot of the system of secondary vocational education by reducing the duration of training and modernizing the infrastructure of colleges and technical schools.
Railway transport has become one of the eight sectors of the economy that participate in the implementation of the federal project “Professionalitet”. Industry-specific educational and production centers (clusters) in the 2022–2023 academic year are planned to be opened in nine railway educational organizations of secondary vocational education and will accept about 770 students for training. Approbation of a new model of personnel training for railway transport will be carried out in four specialties, and training programs involve a more intensive educational process and work experience, which will reduce the training time and provide students with in-demand working professions.
The effective interaction of Russian Railways with railway clusters will ensure the main goal of the federal project “Professionalitet” — ensuring a comprehensive restructuring of the secondary vocational education system through experimental programs with reduced training periods and modernization of the material and technical base of educational institutions.

According to employers, the quality of training of graduates of secondary specialized educational institutions does not meet the demands of the market; the results of ongoing transformations are underestimated by educational organizations. A graduate of an organization of secondary vocational education, once on the labor market, must organically and quickly “fit” into the market, which is a complex system regulated by certain economic laws and often subject to the contradictory influence of political and psychological factors. On September 1, 2022, the program of the Ministry of Education of Russia “Professionalitet” will start, within the framework of which about 150 thousand students of secondary vocational organizations will begin to study. First of all, we are talking about the main working specialties in such sectors of the national economy as metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, petrochemistry and transport. Professionalitet, as a new format of relationships between the main subjects of the free software market, is an educational program in colleges that will allow you to become a highly qualified specialist in demand at the leading enterprise in the region.
Professionalitet is still an experiment, but it is a very important experiment and, probably, right now it is necessary for the education industry. For the employer, there is a need to train mid-level specialists for specific tasks. A graduate of a technical school must come out with specific competencies and skills for this employer. This experiment will subsequently help to synchronize the vocational education system in Russia with the demands of the labor market.

In March 2021, the National Council for Professional Qualifications under the President of the Russian Federation approved the Strategy for the Development of the National Qualifications System of the Russian Federation until 2030. Almost at the same time, the List of initiatives for the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation until 2030 was approved, among which a special place belongs to the project “Professionalitet”, which involves a large-scale transformation of secondary vocational education. The coincidence of the priorities outlined by the documents became the basis for studying the possibilities of using the tools of the national qualifications system for the successful implementation of the “Professionalitet” project.
An analysis of measures to reform secondary vocational education over the past ten to fifteen years is given, the purpose of which is to ensure that the qualifications of graduates meet the requirements of the economy. The study of the data of monitoring studies, expert assessments led to the conclusion that as a result of the experiments there were some successful practices for the training of skilled workers and mid-level specialists, however, for the system as a whole, the effects turned out to be more modest than expected.
It is shown that, since the project “Professionalitet”, based on the experience of previous initiatives, should offer a systematic solution to the problem of staff shortages, it is inappropriate to consider its implementation outside the context of the development of the national qualifications system as a whole. As part of the experiment, a new approach to the training of working personnel should be developed, which implies more flexible principles for the work of professional educational organizations, and the active involvement of business representatives in educational programs. This is possible if the state interacts with employers, the professional community, and educational organizations. Mechanisms for such interaction have been formed and continue to develop within the framework of the national qualifications system.
On specific examples, it is considered how the tools of the national qualifications system can be used to determine the requirements for the results, content, terms of mastering the educational programs “Professionalitet”, assessing the quality of their implementation, ensuring the right of students to receive and confirm qualifications that are understandable to employers and in demand on the labor market.

The issues of development of secondary vocational education in railway transport are considered. Options for solving problem situations in the forced organization of distance learning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic are given. Examples are shown of the distance learning of the duty officer at the railway station on the simulator in the traffic control laboratory.
The relevance of the publication is associated with an active discussion of the prospects for vocational education and the successive stages of the process: from initial vocational education to the training of highly qualified personnel. The results of observations and primary examination of learning outcomes based on distance technologies in new forms of interaction with students both horizontally and vertically (flipped class, joint implementation of course projects and final qualifying works, etc.) are shown. The importance of the prospect of developing targeted training for the training of workers, taking into account the requirements of a particular transport company, is explained. Cognitive interest in the development of professional competencies is proposed to be developed through mentoring and volunteer initiatives of associations of young professionals at enterprises. The professional orientation of the educational process is traditionally enhanced by solving specific production problems, analyzing specific situations, conducting business games at the enterprise, etc. The issues of organizing championships according to WorldSkills Russia standards and conducting demonstration exams in the process of motivating professional activity in secondary vocational education.

The task of higher education is the prompt and complete transfer of the achievements of science and technology to the widest possible stratum of the population, introducing it into the general consciousness, as well as the rapid use of the results of education in the national economy.
Improving the efficiency of higher education management is associated with the introduction of automated information systems in the educational process of the university, which is associated with the solution of a number of tasks that are difficult to formalize. Among them, it is advisable to include the tasks of ensuring the consistency of the logical-temporal sequence of training, optimizing the distribution of educational material between academic disciplines, as well as the task of developing curricula for reduced training or wartime plans in certain areas of professional activity.
The urgency of the listed tasks increases in the context of the introduction of a new generation of federal state educational standards of higher education, expanding the powers of educational organizations.
The widespread introduction of information technology creates favorable conditions for automating the processes of managing the educational process, formulating and solving problems of planning and managing learning in terms of cybernetics, in particular, combinatorics and integer programming.
A cybernetic approach to the study of the problems of improving the quality of planning and organization of the educational process of a higher educational institution is proposed. The task of assessing the degree of consistency of documents of the educational process is formalized, methods for its solution are proposed.
Ways of realization of the received results in perspective automated information systems of high schools are shown.

Digital technologies are reshaping many branches of transport, logistics, including the learning process. Digitalization is considered as the use of digital technologies to update and diversify the learning process. The training center is a mock-up of a railway consisting of ten stations, where the workplaces of the operational staff of the organization of train traffic are organized, two levels of traffic control are implemented: station and dispatcher. The layout has many objects and affects many railway transport technologies. The article discusses the creation of a digital ecosystem of the “B.P. Beshchev Training Center Traffic Control”, for this purpose the following tasks are solved: systematization of information about the objects of the training center; placement of information on University resources; providing open access to information via direct links. This will make it possible to organize the educational process in a new way, students will instantly have access to information about the objects and work that they need to organize in business games and laboratory work. It is proposed to use already well-known digital solutions, such as the classification of educational center facilities, the use of an “Information and Educational Environment”, as well as direct links when using modern mobile devices using QR codes.

The choice of mode of transport for the carriage of goods or the movement of passengers depends on many factors. The choice of the mode of transport/carrier for a relatively short distance of transportation up to 1000 km was studied. On the scale of the Russian Federation, such a length is typical for transportation between many large cities. In the context of the sanctions policy, it is necessary to revise the logistics schemes for freight and passenger transportation. Temporary difficulties associated with the maintenance of aircraft can be compensated by offers for transportation from the railway transport.
It is relevant to study passenger transportation over a distance of up to 1000 km, comparing different types of transport in a number of parameters: convenience of the schedule, transport accessibility of the station/airport, comfort along the way, etc. At the same time, it is important to take into account the needs and wishes of passengers for the trip, analyze the selection criteria, modern conditions, characterized by difficulties in the operation of air transport. The sanctions policy affected passenger air transportation to a greater extent, significantly reducing the number of flights, and there were problems with the operation of aircraft and their maintenance. Rail transport is less influenced by foreign policy, and this can serve as a significant advantage and factor in the growth and development of the industry.
A comparison was made of high-speed passenger transport and two air carriers based on an assessment of the selection criteria. Estimates and ranks for each carrier are calculated in accordance with the wishes of passengers.

The functionality of automated systems used in all business processes of the company is actively expanding on Russian railways. This is largely due to the rapid pace of digital transformation of the Russian Railways Holding, the increasing complexity of customer requirements for delivery speed, as well as the volatile operating conditions of the transport and logistics market of Industry 4.0 as a whole.
The paper analyzes the existing functionality of the AS ETRAN, the example of which shows the effectiveness of the development of information technologies in railway transport. The stages of system improvement are considered. Algorithms for the execution of operations for the registration of transportation documents before and after the expansion of the functionality of the system are proposed. A number of analytical expressions have been developed for the cognitive assessment of operating cost savings from the introduction and development of information technologies on an annual basis for independent transportation participants.
Purpose — to show the effectiveness of the development of information technologies, to offer analytical expressions to assess the savings in operating costs from the introduction and development of automated systems. Results — algorithms have been created for the implementation of tasks for the registration of transportation documents before and after the expansion of the functionality of the automated system. Analytical expressions have been developed in order to estimate the savings in operating costs for each of the independent participants in the transportation.
Practical significance — algorithms and analytical expressions will be useful in the cognitive complex assessment of the effectiveness of the development of automated systems in railway transport.

The automation of control systems for life support processes and the provision of services at the infrastructure facilities of the passenger complex is considered. Digitization of borders, technologies, technical, technological and organizational processes involved in the provision of services for passengers, in the operation of station complexes, will make it possible to effectively manage engineering networks, minimizing gaps in the infrastructure and processes of transport systems.
Causal relationships, algorithmization, mapping, data analysis, block diagramming, modeling, etc. are used. The main projects for the digital transformation of passenger facilities are identified, examples of local automated control systems for the life support processes of the station complex are given.
The issue of automating feedback from passengers has been worked out separately, at the station complex, thanks to the information and reference telephone service, issues of a sanitary nature are centrally resolved. The proposed developments will make it possible to justify the development of technological areas within the frame-work of the Digital Railway program and the gradual transition from manual (personalized) labor at the station complex to an automated system during the modernization, reconstruction or introduction of local digital objects related to passenger service. As a result of these activities, it is expected to achieve the maximum efficiency of life support processes and the processes of rendering services of vault complexes.

Provision of railway transport and subways with qualified personnel is always in the sphere of close attention of specialists.
On example of the Moscow Metro Security Service and in conditions educational regulatory framework modernization it is analyzed organizational, scientific and pedagogical activities during the period of new profession formation “Metro Transport security Inspector”.
It is shown that the specifics of the work of a transport security inspector in the inspection area is the constant readiness for a sudden encounter with a danger of various kinds. In these conditions, important factors of successful activity are the psychological readiness to work in an extreme situation and practical experience of actions to protect facility from acts of terrorism.
Evaluation methods and techniques are proposed which allow, on the one hand, to increase the skills level, and on the other hand, to assess the residual knowledge and abilities of employees in the form in form professional skill competitions and demonstration exam during internship.
Evaluation methods allowing to assess the knowledge, skills and abilities of workers in form professional skill competitions and demonstration exam are proposed.
Development trends of additional professional education for some professions of the transport security forces are analyzed.
It was noted importance of the internship, which should become the final element of training (practice) in the relevant profession, as well as the basis for HR procedures (conclusions) to determine the professional suitability of trainees.
The basic requirements for assessing the professional suitability of trainees for work as inspectors of the metro transport security are formulated.

In 2022, the Chita College of Railway Transport celebrates 120 years since the beginning of educational activities.
The historical path that began on October 15, 1902 with the opening of technical classes at railway repair shops, then transformed in 1928 into the Technical School of Communications, in 1934 — into the Chita School of Military Technicians and in 1953 — into the Chita College of Railway Transport , allowed to form and multiply educational traditions in the training of mid-level specialists.
The directions of the development of the technical school and its achievements are considered, including the issues of integrating the material and technical base and information resources with the aim of their effective use in organizing the educational process for programs of higher and secondary vocational education, providing the educational process with teaching staff, and the admission campaign.
The author’s view is given on the organization of support of the educational process through the improvement of the scientific and methodological component, namely the information and methodological educational environment for creating optimal conditions for the implementation of educational programs of secondary vocational education, as well as through the formation of an organizational structure of educational work to implement the tasks of the education program.
All these factors in the format of interaction with the Trans-Baikal Railway and other employers of the Trans-Baikal Territory had a positive impact on the dynamics of the development of the technical school. The Chita College of Railway Transport systematically fulfills the rating indicators approved by Roszheldor, and, following the results of several years, occupies a leading position among Russian railway transport colleges.

International exhibition of internal logistics was held in Stuttgart (Germany) after a two-year break due to COVID-19 pandemic. The exhibition was a representative review of innovations in logistics and identified future developmental trends for this most important sphere of economics. Digitalization and automation dominated the exhibition with participation of about 1,500 companies. Exhibits reflecting the digitalization of logistic supply networks attracted the greatest interest in the section of digitalization and new information technologies. The displayed software products ensure high-level digitalization of supply chains. New transportation and storage systems and new technologies for picking orders were put on display at the exhibition. New types of hoisting & handling and storage equipment were widely exhibited, for example, electric fork lift trucks, stacker cranes, grabbing devices, etc.