On April 21, a group of electrical engineering students at the Intelligent Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center were exploring the China-Laos Railway line through VR headsets and interactive handles. Abstract concepts like contact networks and electrical equipment from textbooks became "tangible" in the classroom. The virtual simulation experimental project "China-Laos Railway VR Virtual Simulation Experiment," developed by our college, officially launched in the Intelligent Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center. This milestone marks the full-scale commencement of undergraduate courses at the center.

The School of Electrical Engineering has prioritized the development of virtual simulation experiments, leveraging its ‌Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center (National-Level)‌ to establish ‌1 National-Level Virtual Simulation Project‌ (recognized as a ‌National Exemplary Experimental Teaching Application Course‌), ‌4 Sichuan Provincial Virtual Simulation Projects‌, and over 10 University-Level Virtual Simulation Projects‌.

The newly launched ‌"China-Laos Railway VR Virtual Simulation Experiment"‌ was co-developed by faculty experts and the school’s industry collaboration partners. Equipped with VR headsets, students immerse themselves in practical scenarios such as ‌contact network debugging‌ and ‌traction substation operation/maintenance‌ along the China-Laos Railway. This approach not only breaks the time and space limitations‌ of large-scale engineering fieldwork but also ‌enhances students' ability to address complex engineering challenges‌.

The Intelligent Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center at Southwest Jiaotong University, serving as a university-wide shared platform, has established ‌seven specialized sub-centers‌: Desktop Holographic Teaching Center, Smart Transportation Sandbox Center, VR Teaching & Research Hub, Metaverse CAVE Teaching Center, AR Interactive Sandbox Center, Digital Twin Interactive Teaching Center, MR Mixed Reality Teaching Center. With a capacity to accommodate ‌290 students simultaneously‌, the center focuses on ‌holistic development through moral and technical education‌, leveraging its ‌rail transit specialties‌ to provide ‌multidisciplinary, digital, and intelligent technical practices‌. It aims to enhance students' ‌innovative capabilities, complex problem-solving skills, and higher-order thinking‌, driving ‌high-quality experimental education‌ and pioneering ‌transformative pedagogical models‌.