Abstract: The major of transportation is characterized by multidisciplinary integration. However, there is currently an incomplete consideration of cultivating students'innovative abilities in the design of core courses. To address this issue and meet the requirements of cultivating students'ability to solve complex engineering problems based on the educational objectives and graduation requirements of the transportation and logistics discipline, this paper takes urban rail transit operation and management, a core course in the field, as an example. Relying on the key content of the course, which is the optimization design of train schedules, the process of cultivating the ability to solve complex engineering problems is decomposed into four sub-abilities: abstraction, modeling, analysis, and creation. Mathematical modeling is employed as a carrier to cultivate students'ability to apply mathematics, natural sciences, engineering fundamentals, and professional knowledge to solve complex engineering problems.

Key words: Transportation, Urban rail transit, Operation and management, Complex engineering problems, Mathematical modeling, Teaching design