Rail transport taking in university and academy arrives at a shocking time (6)
I believe the answer is:
trauma
'a shocking time' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'rail transport taking in university and academy' is the wordplay.
'rail transport' becomes 'tram' (I've seen this in another clue).
'taking in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'university' becomes 'u' (abbreviation for university).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'academy' becomes 'a' (abbreviation for academy).
'tram' placed around 'u' is 'traum'.
'traum'+'a'='TRAUMA'
'arrives at' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for trauma that I've seen before include "Physical or mental shock" , "Extreme shock" , "Lasting shock or disturbance" , "Wounding shock" , "Physical injury (medical)" .)