Hitachi Announces the Acquisition of The Railway Engineering Company Ltd

London, UK, December 20th 2012 – Hitachi Europe Ltd. ("Hitachi"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd.(TSE: 6501), today announced the acquisition of The Railway Engineering Company Ltd (TRE) from James Fisher and Sons plc.

The transaction is expected to complete at the end of December 2012 and will see Hitachi further strengthen its European Social Infrastructure business which includes Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd., the company that recently signed the £4.5 billion Intercity Express Programme contract, and the recently acquired Horizon Nuclear Power, which plans to build a number of new nuclear power plants in the UK.

TRE supplies train traffic operator’s training and assessment simulators as well as automatic routing systems which will complement and support Hitachi’s product portfolio in the European Traffic Management Railway (TMS) sector.  Hitachi Rail has over 30 years’ experience in the TMS market, from high-density commuter networks to very high speed. Hitachi’s railway arm in Europe, Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd. earlier this year was one of the three companies to be awarded a contract to provide a TMS prototype to Network Rail.

Yutaka Saito, President & CEO of Infrastructure Systems Group and Infrastructure Systems Company, Senior Vice President and Executive Officer, Hitachi, Ltd. commented; “Advanced social infrastructure systems are imperative to today’s world, in order to help reduce carbon emissions and build a sustainable society. Hitachi is therefore committed to expanding its total solutions business, by the integration of IT and social infrastructure systems. Through this acquisition, we aim to gain a foothold in expanding our social infrastructure systems business in the UK and Europe.”

Kiyoshi Yamamoto, Managing Director of Hitachi Europe Ltd. commented: “We are delighted to be announcing this new acquisition, in line with our plans to build a greater presence for Hitachi in the European Infrastructure Systems Business, including Rail industry. Together, we seek to leverage the considerable synergies in our product areas, including simulation, control and traffic management. This acquisition helps strengthen Hitachi’s vision of creating a strong social innovation business globally. Hitachi Rail Europe and The Railway Engineering Company already have been working together and we look forward to combining the efforts permanently to increase productivity, efficiency and innovation within the rail sector.”