For nearly 90 years, Hitachi has worked in partnership with railway operators, industry advisers and financiers, supplying highly reliable and safe products as a total railway system integrator. Based on the company’s extensive experience in Japanese railway systems, Hitachi Rail’s European headquarters is based in London and is dedicated to bringing Hitachi’s expertise in the rail industry to its customers.
Hitachi Rail’s breadth of rail experience and research and development programme has created new, innovative trains and infrastructure, meeting the demands of passengers, operators and governments all over the world for rolling stock, traffic management systems, signalling, HVAC and much more.
The company provides advanced solutions in every aspect of rail travel, including traction equipment and heating, air conditioning and ventilation (HVAC), signalling (ETCS) and traffic management systems (TMS), commuter trains, metro / underground and intercity trains.
Hitachi has built them all, and makes sure they run smoothly. Measured over 38 years, our bullet trains in Japan have never run more than an average of one minute late.
Flexible rail design concept
The A-train design concept is based on a flexible system capable of adapting to all kinds of rail vehicles. Interior and exterior options are available to create a fully flexible unit to meet every rail requirement. The A-Train family consists of three train types, the AT-100 Metro, the AT-200 Commuter and the AT-300 Intercity trains.
Domestic high-speed trains
Delivered six months ahead of full passenger service, the Class 395 Javelin train is the UK’s first domestic high-speed train, running on HS1 between London St Pancras and Ashford, and further to the Kent coast. From day one, passenger satisfaction surveys proved how a fast, reliable train service can increase passenger numbers. During the London Olympics, the trains provided the Javelin train service, taking over 2.4 million passengers on the seven-minute journey between St Pancras and Stratford.
UK rail manufacturing at the Intercity Express Programme
When Agility Trains signed the contract for the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) with the Department for Transport in summer 2012, Agility’s biggest shareholder Hitachi Rail Europe was ready to start the process of putting its plans into action. A fleet of almost 100 electric and bi-mode trains will soon provide a step change in capacity and reliability on the Great Western Main Line and the East Coast Main Line. They will be made in the UK, in Hitachi Rail Europe’s new rail manufacturing plant in Newton Acyliffe, County Durham, which will provide employment for over 700 new Hitachi employees.
Traffic management for efficient rail network operation
Hitachi’s traffic management system (TMS) is designed to manage speedy and efficient recovery of trains running from unexpected traffic disruptions. It is a well-established, highly automated system taking care of trains and traffic management all the way through to the maintenance depot.
Hitachi’s TMS features timetable-based control at its core, integrating railway companies into a unified system and including rolling stock, work schedules and depot management systems. It adjusts dynamically and intelligently when traffic problems occur, exchanging information with related systems to carry out route control operations and timetabling adjustments.
In a project for Network Rail, Hitachi Rail is one of three companies providing a TMS prototype for evaluation for future use in the UK.
Signalling solutions for shortened train headway
With a 60% share of digital signalling solutions to Japanese railway operators, and the highest reliability, Hitachi’s proven signalling technology is plain for all to see. The company’s digital automatic train protection (ATP) is the train control system of the 21st century, sending the movement authority digitally and achieving better ride comfort and shortened train headway to increase overall network capacity. Hitachi Rail Europe is running trials with Network Rail to test and introduce its European Train Control Systems (ETCS) signalling system.
About Hitachi Rail Europe
Hitachi was established in 1910 as a machine repair shop. The product portfolio soon expanded to include household items, turbines for power generation and much more. In 1924, the first railway carriage was built for the domestic market. Hitachi soon became one of the key railway suppliers in Japan and in 1964 was one of the three companies that built the world’s first fleet of high-speed trains, the now-famous shinkansen. Since then, Hitachi has continuously been involved in developing cutting-edge rail technology. Hitachi Rail Europe was established in 1999 as the European headquarters of the company.
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