The Spirit of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is a distillation of the spiritual qualities nurtured by decades of glorious achievements in China’s civil engineering industry, and a monumental symbol of the Communist Party of China uniting and leading people of all ethnic groups across the nation in comprehensively advancing socialist modernization. From the perspective of curriculum-based ideological and political education, the core values of the Spirit of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, including unwavering patriotism, the ethos of selfless dedication, a rigorous scientific attitude, and advanced construction concepts, were elucidated. Integrating the Spirit of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway into the cultivation of talents in civil and construction majors in higher education is conducive to students establishing a belief in building China into a powerhouse in transportation, strengthening their pursuit of innovation and the courage to break new ground, enhancing their character of dedication and responsibility, and fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. To effectively embed the Spirit of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway into the talent development system for civil and construction majors, it is necessary to deeply explore the ideological and political education resources inherent in the railway's construction, strengthen its integration into the main channels of specialized coursework, construct a collaborative education system, expand the practical platform of the second classroom, and thereby promote the high-quality development of curriculum-based ideological and political education within these disciplines.