{"id":380109,"date":"2026-03-04T20:13:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T10:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=190100"},"modified":"2026-03-04T20:13:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T10:13:22","slug":"hitachi-rail-marks-10-years-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=380109","title":{"rendered":"Hitachi Rail marks 10 years in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hitachi Rail is celebrating 10 years of Scottish operations, with its British-built trains and digital maintenance, increasing reliability and modal shift, while also reducing carbon emissions by 82%.<\/p>\n

As part of \u2018Team Scotland\u2019 Hitachi Rail has been developing new solutions to both improve resilience and help decarbonise the railways.<\/p>\n

Hitachi Rail is sponsoring Rail Scotland Conference on 5 March, where it will present what\u2019s next for Scotland\u2019s Railways.<\/p>\n

In 2026, Hitachi Rail is celebrating a decade of operations in Scotland, highlighting a sustained partnership with ScotRail, Transport Scotland and Network Rail (\u2018Team Scotland\u2019) that has delivered industry leading reliability, reduced carbon emissions by 82%, and ongoing investment in skills and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Since first entering Scotland\u2019s rail market in 2016, Hitachi Rail\u2019s investment and growth has been fuelled by the introduction of LNER\u2019s iconic Azuma and ScotRail\u2019s transformational Class 385. Both these British-built fleets have improved connectivity and increased reliability across Scotland, with the Edinburgh (Craigentinny) depot and Glasgow HQ home to 300 highly skilled Hitachi Rail employees.<\/p>\n

Across the Central Belt, the ScotRail Express (Class 385) remains one of the UK\u2019s best performing suburban fleets and is currently 4\u00d7 more reliable than the UK industry average for fleets with over 50 units. In 2024-25 alone, 7.8 million customer journeys were made on Class 385 services between Edinburgh and Glasgow, representing a 5% increase from 2023-24. Being fully electric, the Class 385 has played a major role cutting emissions on the Glasgow\u2013Edinburgh corridor by 82% each year, compared to the diesel trains it replaced.<\/p>\n

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Hitachi Rail\u2019s investment in Scotland goes far beyond rolling stock. It has invested in people and place. That includes a \u00a330 million upgrade of the 122 year old Craigentinny depot. The site, and the highly skilled Hitachi Rail workforce, is a hub for Scotland\u2019s railway, maintaining six separate fleets. This unique ability to support both modern and legacy trains makes the Craigentinny team one of Scotland\u2019s most valuable rail skills bases. Over the past decade, we have digitally upskilled the workforce, establishing Craigentinny as a pioneer of Hitachi\u2019s UK digital maintenance capability.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Hitachi Rail is inspiring the next generation of Scottish rail engineers through its partnership with Powering Futures, where Hitachi Rail volunteers support STEM learning and real world problem solving at Portobello High School. Hitachi Rail is also delivering essential safety education through Rail Safe Friendly at 10 local primary schools, with plans to expand to both primary and secondary schools this year.<\/p>\n

Hitachi Rail will remain part of Team Scotland well into the 2030s, following the extension of its maintenance contracts for the Class 385 fleet. This certainty allows Hitachi Rail to explore opportunities for innovation – from deeper integration of our AI enabled digital asset management platform, HMAX, to how our battery technology solutions could encourage modal shift and reduce costs.<\/p>\n

Kelly Warburton, UK sales director at Hitachi Rail, said: \u201cFor a decade, Hitachi Rail has been proud to support Scotland\u2019s railway, investing in new technology and working hand in hand with ScotRail, Network Rail and Transport Scotland to help make the Class 385s one of Britain\u2019s most reliable fleets.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur long-term partnership means we never stop asking what\u2019s next for Scotland\u2019s railways. We are excited about the new battery and digital solutions we have been busy developing, which can help deliver even greater reliability, resilience and greener travel choices for passengers across Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly will be presenting what\u2019s next for Hitachi Rail in Scotland at Scotland\u2019s premier rail industry event on 5 March \u2013 Rail Scotland Conference 2026.<\/p>\n

Tom Hawkesworth, CEO of Agility Trains, said: \u201cFor over 10 years, Agility Trains has been a proud partner in Scotland\u2019s rail success, investing significantly in the essential infrastructure \u2013 including depots in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Inverness – that keeps the nation moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur commitment to Scotland extends well into the coming decades. From continued investment in our iconic LNER Azuma fleet and train care facilities to pioneering new safety technologies like digital in-cab signalling, our goal is to provide Scottish communities with a high-quality, more dependable rail service. Together with our partners, we are ensuring that Scotland\u2019s rail network is sustainable and technologically advanced for the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For more than 10 years, Hitachi Rail has worked with Agility Trains, a company established in 2008 to deliver the next generation of high-speed intercity trains for the UK\u2019s rail network, including on the East Coast Main Line. Since 2015, Agility has funded critical infrastructure enhancements in Scotland at the Craigentinny (Edinburgh), Inverness, and Aberdeen Clayhills depots to prepare the network for the high-speed LNER fleet.<\/p>\n

Having held the lease for Craigentinny since 2018 with a long-term commitment spanning beyond the next 20 years, Agility continues to drive investment and innovation in Scotland to enhance passenger experience, sustainability, safety, and performance for years to come.<\/p>\n

Hitachi is a partner to Scotland across both energy and mobility. In 2016, Hitachi supported Scotland\u2019s net zero ambitions as a principal partner of Glasgow\u2019s COP26. Today, Hitachi Energy is advancing five major projects that will connect more than 4GW to the Scottish grid, including delivering clean, reliable power to remote communities in the Shetlands and the Hebrides.<\/p>\n

In mobility, Hitachi is supporting more sustainable transport through the daily operation of 159 trains and 150 electric buses across Scotland. Hitachi\u2019s commitment to Scotland continues with the development of Hitachi Energy\u2019s new \u00a33 million UK Engineering Centre of Excellence in Glasgow, creating 90 specialist roles to modernise the grid or energy network.<\/p>\n

Image credit: Hitachi Rail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hitachi Rail is celebrating 10 years of Scottish operations, with its British-built trains and digital maintenance, increasing reliability and modal shift, while also reducing carbon emissions by 82%. As part of \u2018Team Scotland\u2019 Hitachi Rail has been developing new solutions to both improve resilience and help decarbonise the railways. Hitachi Rail is sponsoring Rail Scotland [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8202,16017,47,180,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-380109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-company-news","category-industry-news","category-rail-news","category-rolling-stock","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=380109"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380738,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380109\/revisions\/380738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=380109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=380109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=380109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}