Rail Maintenance AI Tech Developed in the UK Goes Global

20.02.25, LONDON, Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership, and Hitachi Rail are marking a major milestone with the commercialisation of a new rail maintenance solution.

The digital overhead line monitoring technology, which Hitachi premiered at the latest Innotrans in Berlin, promises to boost punctuality for passengers and improve safety for trackside engineers. This solution is one of a range of monitoring tools that feeds into Hitachi’s global digital asset monitoring platform, HMAX.

In 2021, Connected Places Catapult convened a technical collaboration, between Hitachi Rail, LNER and Network Rail. The solution used train-mounted cameras to live monitor overhead lines, while the application of machine learning automatically identified potential faults to pinpoint where and when maintenance was required.

The collaboration led to a successful six-month trial of Hitachi’s overhead line digital monitoring on the East Coast Main Line. Connected Places Catapult provided bespoke support to facilitate this industry collaboration, which included helping the partners to better understand end-user requirements as well as support with new collaborative working models. By spreading the commercial risk of developing new technology between the partners, the Catapult helped bridge what is known in tech innovation spheres as 'the valley of death' and saw the technology successfully progressed.

Since the trial, Hitachi has used the insights generated to develop the product further, and the technology now forms part of Hitachi’s HMAX platform. HMAX, Hitachi Rail’s digital asset management suite, enhances the management of railways by seamlessly integrating operational data from across railway assets and infrastructure into a single platform, optimising the utilisation of railway systems and associated resources. In addition to providing live time monitoring, the system enables the virtual simulation of the physical environment, accelerating the evolution of railway systems. 

Hitachi and Connected Places Catapult are continuing their close collaboration, with Hitachi becoming a strategic partner of the Connected Places Summit, alongside the Department for Transport. Senior leaders from Hitachi, including EMEA president Andrew Barr, will convene a session at the Summit titled, ‘Energy Decarbonisation Transition Challenges and Solutions’.

“The UK’s railway ecosystem had an important part to play in the development of this technology, which is now available to infrastructure operators worldwide. By working with Connected Places Catapult, we were able to collaborate with industry and successfully test this product in a real-world environment.”

Ben Earl, IM and Digital Services Manager at Hitachi Rail

 “The UK is a hotbed of innovation partnerships and the perfect place for companies of all sizes to trial new technology as we seek to make our infrastructure greener, safer and more reliable. I’m proud that Connected Places Catapult has been able to play a role by convening the market to support the development of this technology.

“We look forward to welcoming industry leaders to the Connected Places Summit in March and working with Hitachi as strategic partners to put cutting edge innovation at the centre of the conversation.”

Erika Lewis, Chief Executive Officer at Connected Places Catapult