Summary: Hitachi Rail Europe is a subsidiary of Hitachi Transportation Systems, which is part of the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi and has been involved in railway development since the 1920s. Hitachi was notably one of the three designers of the Shinkansen, the Japanese high-speed train. Hitachi Rail Europe was established in 1999 with the aim of entering the liberalized European rail market. Its headquarters were set up in the west of London, and the company achieved its first European successes in the United Kingdom with the delivery of 29 Javelin Class 395 regional trains and through the British IEP program—an initiative aimed at acquiring new trains to replace the InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 fleets. In 2015, Hitachi acquired the Italian manufacturer AnsaldoBreda and took a stake in Ansaldo STS, the rail signaling division of Finmeccanica. On that occasion, the company was renamed Hitachi Rail Italy. At the end of 2021, to gain approval for its acquisition of Bombardier, Alstom was required to divest its high-speed Zefiro activities, which were acquired by Hitachi Rail Europe. The Japanese group further expanded by acquiring the signaling business that Thales sold in 2023, giving Hitachi Rail Europe a full range of railway supply capabilities. Globally, Hitachi Rail employs nearly 12,000 people, including 2,800 in the United Kingdom alone.

➤ Other rolling stock suppliers in Europe: Alstom, CAF, Greenbrier Europe, Pesa, Siemens, Škoda, Stadler, Talgo, Vossloh