Hitachi’s mission, since it was founded more than a century ago, has been to develop superior technology for the benefit of society.
As we enter 2021 and looking ahead to the coming decades, the challenge of climate change, coupled with global population growth – predicted rise by more than a quarter to 9.7bn people – looms large. As a world-leading mobility provider, with an objective to ‘power good’, these challenges give Hitachi Rail a clear focus.
Despite the impact of COVID-19, the evidence still suggests that an increasing majority of us will choose to live and work in cities in the longer-term. So for city authorities and urban transport providers, these global trends mean they will need new, improved transport networks, which are better integrated and digitally connected. They will also need to make their public transport networks far more environmentally friendly – by decarbonising existing services and introducing new green technology. And, this all has to happen within 20-30 years! Not a challenge for the faint of heart.
Fortunately, as a full service provider for mobility solutions and a pioneer of new technology, Hitachi is ideally placed to help lead this global transformation.
As company, we offer:
Global scale and expertise in across the mobility sector;
Leadership in alternative fuels and new technologies;
And a well-established partnership approach with our customers that helps implement change.
Hitachi recognises that tackling climate change is fundamental to our moral and corporate mission. For that reason, we’ve signed-up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as committed to achieving ambitious 2050 decarbonisation targets.
There a several ways we can help with decarbonisation. The first and most important approach is to work with transport providers around the world to provide green, attractive public transport options. Getting people out of cars and planes and on to trains is the fastest way to have the biggest impact. For example, in Honolulu we’re due to open a brand new electric railway that will offer a fast, comfortable alternative to passengers to get downtown. In Japan, our Shinkansen bullet trains have shifted the vast majority of people away from high emission domestic air travel.
Many of the world’s older railways still rely upon diesel trains and, in those cases, our role is to provide new decarbonising solutions. We’re pioneering battery technology around the world – with trains operating in Japan, the UK and Italy – to provide an alternative power source for trains. Often, this is a faster and cheaper way to cut carbon emissions where the railway’s infrastructure is not electrified. Our ability to work with other Hitachi Group companies, including Hitachi Power Grids, enhances the offer to customers by including fast charging solutions. Our mission this decade is to rollout out battery and charging technology to fleets across the world, so we put diesel on course to be a relic of the past, much like stream power is today.
Complementing our work on sustainability is also our efforts to digitise the transport system.
By complementing human-led processes with artificial intelligence, when it comes to maintaining trains we’re able to reduce the time, cost and quantity of parts required. Through making the process more efficient, we’re also cutting carbon and reducing waste. Similarly, by installing our connected driver advisory system – which operates on our trains – we can help drivers to reduce their energy consumption, while achieving the same journey times.
Committing to net-zero means Hitachi Rail’s own business must reduce its environmental footprint. I’m pleased that in this year’s report we have delivered significant reductions against the previous period. Our waste is lower (-23.3% per hour worked), water consumption decreased (-23.7% per hour worked) and greenhouse gas emissions are down (-14.2% total CO2 equivalent per hour worked.) We also know we have more to do.
Making a difference to climate change isn’t easy, and it will take a huge collective effort from all of us, but it is challenge we must rise to. Hitachi is in the unique position of having technological leadership to innovate the whole systems experience and at the global scale to implement major change. This places a particular responsibility on us to tackle the problems of our time head-on – and inspire the next generation of mobility - for the benefit of the next generation.
To find out more please download the 2019 - 2020 report.
