兰州交通大学创建于1958年5月，由北京铁道学院（现北京交通大学）、唐山铁道学院（现西南交通大学）主干系科成建制迁兰组建而成，为我国第三所铁路本科高校，原隶属铁道部。2003年4月经教育部批准更名为兰州交通大学，现为甘肃省人民政府、国家铁路局、中国国家铁路集团有限公司共建高校，甘肃省高水平大学和一流学科建设高校。

Lanzhou Jiaotong University was founded in May 1958, established by the main departments of Beijing Railway College (now Beijing Jiaotong University) and Tangshan Railway College (now Southwest Jiaotong University) moving to Lanzhou. It is the third railway undergraduate university in China and was originally affiliated to the Ministry of Railways. Approved by the Ministry of Education in April 2003, it was renamed Lanzhou Jiaotong University. Now it is a university jointly built by the People's Government of Gansu Province, the National Railway Administration, and China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., and a high-level university and first-class discipline construction university in Gansu Province.

学校学科特色鲜明，以工科为主，涵盖工学、理学、经济学、管理学、文学、法学、艺术学、教育学等8个学科门类，拥有4个博士后科研流动站、6个博士学位授权一级学科、24个硕士学位授权一级学科。交通运输工程、土木工程等学科在第四轮学科评估中获评B类，形成了以轨道交通为核心的优势学科群。

The university has distinct disciplinary characteristics, with engineering as the main focus, covering 8 disciplines including engineering, science, economics, management, literature, law, art, and education. It has 4 post-doctoral research stations, 6 first-level disciplines authorized for doctoral degrees, and 24 first-level disciplines authorized for master's degrees. Disciplines such as Transportation Engineering and Civil Engineering were rated as Class B in the fourth round of discipline evaluation, forming an advantageous discipline group with rail transit as the core.

学校现有两个校区，占地面积1564亩，校舍建筑面积88.74万平方米，图书馆藏书224万册。教职工2400余人，全日制在校生3万余人，其中本科生2.2万人、研究生5450人。建校以来，学校秉承“尚德、励志、博学、笃行”校训，为国家培养了大批轨道交通领域人才，被誉为“铁路工程师的摇篮”。

The university has two campuses, covering an area of 1564 mu, with a building area of 887,400 square meters and a library collection of 2.24 million books. There are more than 2,400 faculty members and more than 30,000 full-time students, including 22,000 undergraduates and 5,450 postgraduates. Since its establishment, adhering to the school motto of "Virtue, Aspiration, Erudition, and Practice", the university has cultivated a large number of talents in the field of rail transit and is known as "the cradle of railway engineers".