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London, UK, Published date 24 October, 2012

Hitachi Rail Europe Strengthens Leadership Team

Contact: Daniela Karthaus Hitachi Rail Europe, Ltd. +44-7920 205 631 Daniela.karthaus@hitachirail-eu.com Hitachi Rail Europe Strengthens Leadership Team LONDON, October 24, 2012 – Hitachi Rail Europe, Ltd. today announced significant changes to its senior management team. The reshuffle strengthens the leadership of the company, which is currently growing in order to meet the challenges of the Intercity Express Programme and other recent contract wins.

Having worked for Hitachi for over 40 years, Chiaki Ueda, previously Chairman of Hitachi Rail Europe, is now retiring and has returned to his native Japan. Chiaki Ueda spent six years in the UK, leading the growth of the company following the Class 395 contract win. During his tenure, the company introduced the UK’s first domestic high speed train six months ahead of schedule, established a state-of-the-art maintenance facility in Ashford Kent and was awarded the contract to build and maintain 596 vehicles for the UK’s Intercity Express Programme.

In his place, Alistair Dormer takes over as the head of the company, in the position of Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Alistair has been with Hitachi Rail for almost 10 years, interrupted only by a short period during which he was seconded to Agility Trains as the consortium’s Chief Executive Officer. In his new role, Alistair will be responsible for further driving Hitachi Rail Europe’s growth in the British and European rail industry.

Keith Jordan will continue his role as Managing Director of Hitachi Rail Europe, with responsibility for the overall operational leadership. As part of this, he will be responsible for developing the business organisation and capabilities to manage the growth and expansion of the company in the UK and Europe.

Hirofumi Ojima has been appointed Chief Strategy Officer of Hitachi Rail Europe and will continue to define the company’s long-term strategic direction.

Koji Agatsuma remains Head of Technical.

Andy Barr has been appointed Senior Vice President and Head of Projects, Operations and Maintenance. In addition to his continued accountability for the maintenance business, Andy will have overall responsibility for planning and delivery of major projects, including the Hitachi Super Express trains.

To support Andy, two appointments have been made. Russell Hargrave has joined Hitachi Rail Europe as Head of Maintenance with overall responsibility for the provision of maintenance and support services for the Class 395 trains at the company’s Ashford Maintenance Depot. Russell is also tasked with establishing the IEP Maintenance business and ensuring that new train design and major component sub-contracts are optimized from a maintainability and in-service support perspective.

In addition, Ross Cunningham has joined Hitachi Rail Europe as Depot Delivery Manager. He has overall responsibility for the development, construction and delivery of the new train depots for the Intercity Express Programme. This involves the management of all aspects of the depot build including legal, planning, contractual and health & safety issues.

Jamie Foster has joined the company as Procurement Director. With a strong background in building procurement best practice across a number of industry sectors, Jamie will drive the supplier selection and contract award for the Intercity Express Programme while developing robust process and procedures to meet the company’s growth.

Darren Cumner joined Hitachi Rail Europe earlier this year as Manufacturing Plant Manager. Darren is tasked with overseeing the build of the new manufacturing plant in the North East of England.

These new appointments strengthen Hitachi Rail Europe’s leadership team following the close of contract of the Intercity Express Programme, which was achieved on 25 th July 2012. The company has already started a recruitment drive to further build the team tasked with delivering all aspects of the Intercity Express Programme. This includes establishing a manufacturing plant in the UK, building maintenance facilities to support the ambitious requirements for reliability and quality of the train services.

Alistair Dormer, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi Rail Europe said: “With the close of contract of the Intercity Express Programme, we reached a major milestone and will now concentrate on delivering the programme in the same way we delivered the Class 395 – on time and to budget. We have ambitious growth targets for Hitachi Rail Europe in the UK and in continental Europe and the new leadership team will be fully focused on delivering these with the help of our highly committed colleagues.” About Hitachi Rail Europe, Ltd. Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Europe, Ltd. and is headquartered in London, UK.

Hitachi Rail Europe is a total railway system supplier offering rolling stock, traction equipment, signalling, traffic management systems, and maintenance depots.

Hitachi draws on many years of experience as a leading supplier of high-speed trains such as the Shinkansen (bullet train) for the Japanese and international markets. In Europe, Hitachi Rail Europe’s first rolling stock contract was to deliver a fleet of 29 Class 395 trains, the first domestic high-speed train in the UK. The trains are maintained at Hitachi’s state of the art depot in Ashford, Kent.

For more information about the company, please visit: www.Hitachirail-eu.com .

About Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd., (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 320,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2011 (ended March 31, 2012) consolidated revenues totaled 9,665 billion yen ($117.8 billion). Hitachi is focusing more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com .