DNSZ Rail Challenge Hackathon at USUST

On May 21–22, 2025, the SEI “Dnipro Institute of Infrastructure and Transport” of USUST hosted the two-day DNSZ Rail Challenge Hackathon, organized in partnership with JSC “Dnipro Switch Plant”.

The event served as a platform for hands-on collaboration between students and the enterprise. Participants tackled real-life cases presented by the plant’s experts. The challenges included the digitalization of maintenance processes, logistics optimization, part identification, and improvements to casting technologies.

The hackathon welcomed the following teams:

• “Peremozhna Strilka” – a team from the SEI DIIT,
• “Rail Flock” – another team from the SEI DIIT,
• “Metallurgists” – a team from the SEI DMetI,
• “Profitech” – a team from Vocational School №  17.

Throughout the event, teams received mentoring support from USUST faculty and plant specialists.

The second day began with a guided tour of the DnSZ production facilities. As noted by Roman Rybalka, Deputy Director of the SEI DIIT, the experience of visiting the workshops was “genuine engineering inspiration.”

As part of the event, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between USUST and JSC “DnSZ.” The document was signed by the University’s Rector, Professor Kostiantyn Sukhyi, and the Chairman of the Plant’s Board, Serhii Taranenko.

The teams presented their projects to a jury composed of representatives from both the university and the enterprise:

• From USUST: Volodymyr Malynovskyi, Volodymyr Andreev, Serhii Raksha;
• From DnSZ: Oleh Shmelkov, Oleksandr Kaidas, Roman Biliavskyi.

Based on the presentations, the jury awarded the following distinctions:

• “Peremozhna Strilka” – Grand Prize;
• “Metallurgists” – Best Implementation Potential;
• “Profitech” – Simplicity and Brilliance of the Solution;
• “Rail Flock” – Best Data Analysis.

A Rozetka certificate from an Instagram giveaway was awarded to Yaroslav Turchaninov from Vocational School № 17. The most active participants received branded thermoses with LED temperature indicators.

The DNSZ Rail Challenge is more than just a competition — it’s an opportunity to bridge theory with practice, engineering with innovation, and education with industry. It’s another step toward a new model of training professionals for the real economy.