Hitachi Rail, the global maker of Japan’s high-speed bullet trains, marked the opening Monday of a factory two years in the making. Transit systems in Baltimore and Washington have lined up among the first customers.
Hitachi, which has rail plants in Japan, Italy and the United Kingdom, had been producing rail cars at a now-closed Miami plant and selected a new site in Hagerstown two years ago as part of an expansion to meet a growing U.S. demand.
Officials said the Washington County site offers access both to workers needed for as many as 500 jobs and to customers in the Northeast corridor, representing more than $2 billion worth of initial contracts. About 200 workers, including engineering and quality control, have been hired for production.
“It’s a really great effort of the team at Hitachi Rail but also a showcase for the Hitachi Corp.,” which has 17,000 U.S employees, Joe Pozza, president of Hitachi Rail for the U.S., said in an interview during a tour of the 300,000-square-foot plant. “Transportation that’s sustainable is really the mode of transportation of the future. Many of the transit authorities in the United States are investing in growth.”
Hitachi has a contract valued at about $400 million with the Maryland Transit Administration for 78 cars to fully replace the Baltimore subway’s fleet and install a new signal system. It will be the metro system’s first major overhaul since it opened in 1983, said MTA Administrator Holly Arnold. A half-dozen cars are being tested, and the first of them should be in service by the end of the year.
New technology will make the trains safer, more reliable and more precise, and should help boost the current 15,000-per-day ridership, Arnold said.
“We’re anxious to get them in service,” said Arnold, while showing off one of the upgraded, more spacious metro trains, with bike racks and more comfortable seats. “The MTA’s trains are 40-plus years old, with old technology.”
Hitachi officials, including Hitachi Rail CEO Giuseppe Marino and Hitachi President Toshiaki Tokunaga, welcomed about 300 guests, including media from the U.S. and Japan, to an opening event on Monday. The first cars have been under production for several months. The factory draws on the digital and artificial intelligence expertise of Hitachi Group companies for innovations and new technologies.
The state-of-the-art factory has embraced “smart manufacturing,” with more than $30 million in digital enhancements, including additive manufacturing tech and AI robots and drones to identify defects. The 41-acre campus includes an 800-yard test track.
The company introduced “Spot,” an AI-powered, mobile robotic dog, which is programmed to inspect rail cars for defects and send in digital reports, and showed off innovations such as ergonomic exoskeletons that offer support for repetitive overhead tasks in assembling trains.
Aruna Miller, Maryland lieutenant governor, said the factory represents a partnership of “two nations, one shared vision, Maryland and Japan moving together on the same track. Hitachi could have chosen anywhere in the region to build this factory, but they chose Hagerstown in Washington County.”
Gov. Wes Moore had met with the executive chairman and leadership of Hitachi during his international trade mission in Asia.
Hitachi plans to produce up to 20 railcars per month for customers in the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Pennsylvania and Ontario regions.
Under one contract valued at about $750 million with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Hitachi will produce 256 cars to replace older cars in the metro system’s fleet with an option for up to 800 rail cars. The new all-electric metro cars will replace a fleet that’s been in service since the early 1980s. Upgrades will include on-board WiFi, digital information screens, high definition security cameras, improved braking and heated floors.
When fully operational, the factory will be able to complete up to 20 railcars per month using a single shift of workers. It is equipped to build subway cars, heavy rail and high-speed trains.
The factory will create more than 1,700 direct and indirect jobs. It has been under construction since 2022, when Hitachi acquired land near the growing Hopewell Valley industrial park.
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