The Railway Challenge provides the real-life experience of the entire cycle of designing and manufacturing a prototype in a structured environment supported by academic and industry mentors. In a fairly risk free but representative environment, teams and individuals develop key engineering skills alongside business and soft skills that will enhance their future in an engineering career.

For institutions which have not previously participated in the Railway Challenge, there is an Entry Level option and the intention is that this provides teams with a stepping stone towards a full entry in a future year, where it may seem too daunting to both design and construct a locomotive within a single year.

Teams taking the Entry Level option are not required to manufacture a locomotive being only required to submit a design of their proposed loco. The design must follow all rules of the main competition, but Entry Level teams must also submit a CAD model to demonstrate the overall structure of their locomotive and a more detailed design of one chosen sub-system. Entry Level teams are still expected to compete in all the other presentation challenges.