Hitachi Rail has announced a new phase in its work with Google Cloud, aiming to use the company’s cybersecurity tools and artificial intelligence technologies to support the rail industry’s shift toward more automated and sustainable operations.
The collaboration, confirmed on 2 December in Tokyo and Mountain View, aligns with Hitachi Rail’s long-term plan to integrate digital systems with energy transition goals and encourage a broader move toward rail travel.
The work extends the strategic alliance established between Hitachi and Google Cloud in October 2025, which focuses on enterprise innovation using generative and agentic AI. Under the latest arrangement, Hitachi Rail will combine its experience in global railway systems, including development of its HMAX platform, with digital engineering and AI expertise from GlobalLogic and Google Cloud’s expanding AI capabilities.
Giuseppe Marino, Group CEO of Hitachi Rail said:Sustainability is the destination—digital is how we'll get there.
Our collaboration with Google Cloud will enable us to harness their leadership in digital and AI technologies to meet our strong ambitions regarding digital transformation in rail and develop for our customers optimised and energy-efficient solutions. In this way, we will continue to develop rail as the core of future Mobility schemes.
The partnership will use Google Cloud services such as the Vertex AI platform to support Hitachi Rail’s ambition to apply ‘physical AI’ to operational systems. This includes improving the efficiency of rail services, strengthening digital security, and contributing to the long-term plan for autonomous rail networks.
Hitachi Rail has identified digital transformation as an essential pathway to achieving sustainable mobility.
Andrea Williamson, Director, Retail, Consumer and Travel, Google Cloud UKI, said:Hitachi Rail is a pioneer in operational technology, and our collaboration combines that deep domain expertise with the power of Google’s generative AI and agentic technology. This collaboration will unlock new levels of efficiency for their teams today and lay the critical foundation for a truly autonomous rail network tomorrow.
The initiative forms part of the wider Hitachi Group approach to embedding AI within industrial and infrastructure systems. This includes development through the Lumada 3.0 solutions platform, which supports the application of data-driven technologies across multiple sectors.
