Hitachi built the first railway carriage in 1924 for the domestic Japanese market and soon became one of the main railway suppliers in Japan. By 1964, Hitachi was one of only three companies that built the world’s first fleet of high-speed trains, the shinkansen. Hitachi also licensed the straddle-beam type of monorail from the German company Alweg, which it used for the Tokyo Monorail, the world's first commercial monorail service and one of the world's busiest monorail lines.[2][3] This product line still exists today as Hitachi Monorail, which is used in ten monorail systems as of 2024.
Hitachi's rail division delivered 120 CQ311 series railcars to MARTA from 1984 to 1988.
Hitachi Rail Europe (legally Hitachi Rail Limited) was established in London as the European headquarters of the company in 1999.[4] Other subsidiaries have been established globally.[5]
On February 24, 2015, Hitachi agreed to purchase the Italian rolling stock manufacturer Ansaldo Breda and acquire Finmeccanica's stake in Ansaldo STS, the railway signaling division of Finmeccanica[7] The purchase was completed later that year,[8] at which point the company was renamed as Hitachi Rail Italy. Since then, Hitachi has obtained a majority stake in Ansaldo STS.[9]
In July 2020, Hitachi signed an exclusive agreement with Hyperdrive, a UK-based lithium-ion battery company, to bring battery-powered trains to the country.[10]
Late in 2021, Alstom announced the transfer of business relating to Bombardier Zefiro to Hitachi Rail and should be completed in early 2022.[11]
In late 2022, Hitachi Rail won the contract to supply train sets for Ontario Line being planned in Toronto.[12]
In 2024, Hitachi Rail and MERMEC signed a put option agreement for the sale of Hitachi Rail’s main line signalling business in France and its signalling business units in Germany and the UK.[13]
