Southwest Jiaotong University was founded in 1896. It has been named Shanhaiguan Beiyang Railway Institute, Tangshan Jiaotong University and Tangshan Railway Institute. 1972, the school was renamed Southwest Jiaotong University. 1989 The general school moved to Chengdu (Emei became a branch school and later changed to a campus). In 2002, a new campus was built in Xipu, Chengdu, forming today's school-running pattern of "one school, two places and three campuses".

It is one of the first universities to enter the national "2 1 1 Project" and "Special 985 Project" construction sequence, and has trained 43 academicians including Zhu Kezhen, Mao Yisheng and Lin Tongyan, 3 winners of the "two bombs and one satellite" medal, as well as national and provincial leaders, many well-known experts, professors, industry leaders and