Research and Reports

Social Innovation in Transport and Mobility

Hitachi is predicting continued global growth in rail and urban transit - with factors such as on-going urbanisation, congestion in other modes and the need to lower carbon footprints all contributing to demand. It says the “rail sector is expected to witness tremendous innovation, resulting in new applications, business models, and opportunities.” Hitachi is working to the forecast that the amount of high-speed track will grow from 50,000km (around 31,000 miles) to more than 90,000km (around 56,000 miles) by 2020 - with much of that expansion coming from China. In the same period, it expects the number of wi-fi equipped trains in Europe to increase from just over 8% to nearly 18%.