In Dnepropetrovsk on the basis of polytechnic and the faculty of communication lines' engineers of the Kiev Polytechnical Institute the Institute of Engineers of Railway Transport (DIIT) was founded. Established in the centre of metallurgy industry of Ukraine and in the large railway junction the institute has developed training of the qualified specialists in a short space of time. Within the first five-year plan masses of students, teachers, workers and employees have constructed the building for studies, dormitory, canteen and dwellings. For 3-4 years the comfortable campus has grown. At that time 62 teachers including 5 professors and 12 assistant professors worked at the institute.

    At the institute the postgraduate study and three faculties have been organized: constructional, mechanical and electromechanical.

    DIIT was rewarded with the Diploma of All-Union Central Executive Committee of the USSR for successful work in creation of material and technical bases and training of specialists for railway transport .

    The first graduation of 190 diplomaed engineers was held. At the XVII party congress DIIT was called one of the best among higher schools in the USSR.

    The institute among 24 best higher schools of the country was awarded the Diploma of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. 

    The steam-locomotive faculty was opened. 

    Within the Great Patriotic war more than thousand students, post-graduate students, teachers, workers and employees of DIIT have entered voluntarily the ranks of the Soviet Army, heroically battling with the enemy on various fronts and in guerrilla troops. The institute was evacuated to Novosibirsk where it continued to train highly skilled specialists. In memory of the lost students in the centre of campus a monument was erected , at the bottom of which now the eternal fire burns. In 1944 the institute came back to its campus, the part of buildings was turned into ruins.

    By 1947 restoration of institute basically had been completed and by 1950 - the twentieth anniversary of DIIT - the campus had been completely restored. 

    During 50-70 years the new building for studies, students' dormitory, stadium, pool, sports complex and other objects were put into operation. Own Computer centre was established. .The institute has become large transport educational institution.

    For the successes achieved in training of specialists, high level teach-educational and scientific-research work and widespread social-labour activity, DIIT was repeatedly awarded the challenge Red flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Trade Unions, Central Committee of LYCLU (ËÊÑÌÓ) and the Ministry of higher education of Soviet Ukraine, which in 1975 was handed over to the institute for good; in 1978 - the Diploma of Central Committee of LYCLSU (ÂËÊÑÌ), in 1980 - award of the Labour Red Flag, and in 1986 - challenge Red flag of the Central Committee of Soviet Communist Party (ÊÏÑÑ), Council of Ministers of the USSR, All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, Central Committee of LYCLSU .

    In 1993 DIIT, after certification, has won the status of university. Now its full name is: the Dnepropetrovsk State Technical University of Railway Transport (DIIT). A great energy was put into development of institute by its heads: N.M.Fedichenko who was the commander of institute during 1930-1937, P.A.Chumachenko -  1937-1938, I.I.Ivanov -  1938-1941, V.A.Lazarian -  April, 1941-1958, N.R.Yushchenko -  1958- May, 1971, V.A.Kablukov -  1971-1997.

    The date of birth of our Computer centre - May, 1962. In that distant spring the Ministry of communication lines has issued the order on creation of computing laboratory at DIIT. Lately the Computer centre has become one of the greatest divisions of institute.
    Academician V.A.Lazarian, heading the department of building mechanics at that time, was the initiator of Computer centre's creation, its founder and the scientific adviser.
    Under the direction of him many years the analog computer facilities were used in scientific work. However the scientific intuition of prominent scientist has prompted to Lazarian that to raise scientific researches to a new qualitative level it was necessary to use only digital machines.
    V.A.Lazarian got mechanical engineers (graduates of DIIT) and mathematicians (graduates of Dnepropetrovsk State University) to take part in the problem solving. Long experience of such organization of research has resulted in the conclusion about the necessity of combination for one person of special engineering knowledge and fundamental theoretical grounding in mathematics. Therefore V.A.Lazarian initiated a new direction in training of specialists at the Dnepropetrovsk Institute of Transport Engineers. And in September, 1962 50 students of the first year of a speciality "Mathematical computing instruments and devices" began studying. In 1967 the first engineer-mathematicians, alumni of young faculty "Computer engineering", have left for all country.
    As material, technical and educational bases for training of these specialists in May, 1962 the Computer centre of institute equipped with electronic digital machine "Ural - 1" also was created.
    Academician V.A.Lazarian was not only the initiator and the generator of ideas about creation and development of the Computer centre (one of the earliest in the city) but also he has put his heart, energy and time into the solving of practical questions in a technique, organization of working, staff's selection and forming of young collective for the Computer centre.
    Creation of collective for the Computer centre was started much earlier than its formation. In the middle of 1961 Lazarian has offered six students of the fourth year of electrification faculty to train for a new profession during the time before graduation with the purpose of working at the Computer centre henceforth, build-up of which was planned for 1962. And after the second semester students of the fourth year have started the process of retraining. It was held under V.A.Lazarian's supervision and at direct participation of employees of scientific-research laboratory  "Dynamics and durability of a rolling stock" ( M.E.Itin, L.A.Manashkin, L.A.Tur) and workers of department "Building mechanics" ( E.P.Blokhin and I.G.Barbas).
    With their help the future workers of young Computer centre studied electronics, elements of computer engineering and methods of applied mathematics. At Dnepropetrovsk State University the structure and operation's principles of electronic digital machine "Ural - 1", a technique of maintenance and programming were mastered.
    The progeny of V.A.Lazarian - head of the laboratory "Dynamics and durability of a rolling stock" Cand.Tech.Sci. A.I.Stukalov and employees of department V.A. Kablukov and V.I.Gronsky - personally participated in such practical questions as providing of new Computer centre with the primary and secondary equipment, reconstruction of 270 and 270a auditoriums for the first electronic digital machine, and also the further development of the Computer centre. In 1962 group of electronic computer centre in which there were only two experts with an abundant practical operational experience on digital machines (A.R.Poplavskaya and the first chief of the Computer centre E.S. Kozlov) has executed by own strength starting-up and debugging for "Ural - 1". Since then it has become customary and devolved upon new generations of electronic engineers. All subsequent machines: "Urals - 3" (1965), "Minsk - 32" (1972), "ES - 1020" (1976) also were put into operation by own strength in spite of the fact that generations of the computers, their class, component base and principles of the organization varied. Computer debugging on one's own is the best way to become acquainted with it. "ES-1050" (1980) was the only exception to the rule in view of deadline for putting into operation.
    To imagine more evidently that way which the Computer centre has passed in the technical development it would be desirable to tell some words about "Ural - 1". It was the electron-tube machine. A mode of operation - with one program. There weren't any algorithmic languages, programming was directly in machine codes. The programmer debugged the program correcting contents of RAM cells immediately from the console. Volume of RAM (in translation) - 4 Kb, processing speed - 100 operations per second, while the appropriate parameters of "ES - 1050" were 128 and 5000 times more.
    As in the period till 1971 railways had no computer centre yet the Computer centre of DIIT satisfied the requirements not only of the institute, but also of the By-Dnieper railway although there were only 12 programmers at the institute. Using electronic digital machine problems of dynamics and durability of a rolling stock were successfully solved and the basic computations for the By-Dnieper railway were performed. Furthermore works on development of transportations' optimum plans, modelling of sorting process and operational planning of some kinds of operational work on a railway transport were carried out by means of digital machine. The bases of drawing up of railway crews' operating and rest schedules with the computer were grounded. "Ural - 3" was extensively used in term and degree designing.
    Employees of the Computer centre of DIIT took an active part in the equipping of a machine hall for computers "Minsk-32" in 1971-1972 (auditoriums 266 and 268), and since 1974 - in the construction of annex ¹2 specially designed for the Computer centre. In 1976 assemblage, starting-up and debugging for "Minsk - 32" and "ES - 1020" computers were accomplished.
    Huge work in this direction was done by employees of the Computer centre: S.I. Nezhumira, V.K.Stelmakh, V.S.Vasianovich, A.E.Monin, A.G.Zaychenko and many others.
    In 1980 computer "ES - 1050" was set in operation with the processing speed of 500 thousand operations per second (unique computer with such power in the system of Ministry of Communication lines at that time). It was completed with three video terminal stations ("ES - 7906" and "ES - 7920" types) including 24 displays. That has demanded redesign of the computer and modernization of new operating system.
    Putting in operation of "ES-1050" with the set of videoterminal devices has considerably enhanced the opportunities of institute for the solving of various problems.
    Department "Electronic computing machines" and especially professor E.M.Shafit played the key role in the formation of the Computer centre.
    Now the Computer centre develops and within the precincts of it modern personal computers are located.