How it started
Creation of the rail division and domestic activities
After the demand for ships decreased following the end of the First World War, Hitachi, under its founder Namihei Odaira, acquired the Kasado Factory in Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi from a nearly bankrupt shipbuilder. This factory was converted into a locomotive manufacturing facility. In the 1920s, Hitachi's railway products included the JNR Class ED15 locomotives, the first electric mainline locomotives built in Japan, and steam locomotives such as the Class 8620 and Class D50. As mainline electrification progressed, Hitachi developed and produced much larger and more powerful electric locomotives, such as the Class EF55 streamliners (1936), the Class EF56 (1937), and the Class EF57 (1940). During this time, Hitachi also supplied locomotives to various Japanese colonies, including Taiwan, Korea, and the South Manchuria Railway.
After the Second World War, Hitachi primarily manufactured locomotives and other railway equipment for two decades. During this period, the company built the Class C62 locomotives, the largest and fastest steam locomotives in Japanese rail history. One of these, C62 17, still holds the world steam speed record for narrow-gauge tracks at 129 km/h. Another notable Hitachi-built locomotive was the EF58, which operated on the Tokaido Main Line express trains alongside the C62. In the 1950s, diesel locomotives were introduced on non-electrified lines in remote parts of Japan. Japanese National Railways adopted two types of mainline diesel locomotives: the diesel-electric DF50 and the diesel-hydraulic DD51. Hitachi was involved in the development and manufacturing of both.
In the 1950s, Hitachi began building electric multiple units (EMUs). Early examples include the Class 1000 Shinkansen prototypes (1962), the 0 Series Shinkansen (1964), and the Series 485 dual-voltage express train (1964). Hitachi has been involved in the development of nearly all types of Shinkansen rolling stock, as well as their operating systems, including automatic train control. Hitachi also licensed the straddle-beam type of monorail from the German company Alweg, which it used for the Tokyo Monorail in 1964, the world's first commercial monorail service and one of the world's busiest monorail lines. This product line still exists today as Hitachi Monorail, which is used in ten monorail systems as of 2026.
Global expansion
Between 1984 and 1988, Hitachi's rail division delivered 120 CQ311 series railcars to MARTA.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hitachi Rail, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2