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Hitachi Ltd. is a Japanese multi-national conglomerate company involved in numerous business sectors.

The company's history as a whole dates back to 1910 when it was founded by Namihei Odaira, an electrician by trade. The company was founded in Hitachi, Ibaraki, from which the company gets its name, as an in-house venture of a mining company owned by Fusanosuke Kuhara also located in Hitachi. The name "Hitachi" literally means "sun rise".

One of Hitachi's main businesses is rolling stock construction, with a history for that division dating back to around 1920. Hitachi decided to use the Kasado Shipyards for their use to manufacture steam locomotives and other railway equipment; the shipyards would later become Hitachi's Kasado Plant. It is here where many of Hitachi's rolling stock is manufactured, with some sources claiming that Hitachi is the only company in the world capable of manufacturing just about anything related to the operation of a railroad.

In addition to manufacturing rolling stock for Japanese railways, Hitachi also exports many of their rolling stock worldwide. The company also owns two plants in Pistoia, Italy and Newton Aycliffe, UK for building rolling stock in the European region, and owns two subsidiaries, Hitachi Rail and Hitachi Rail Italy (formerly known as AnsaldoBreda), with Hitachi Rail being the branding used by Hitachi for their rolling stock operations outside Japan.

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Japanese rolling stock manufacturers
Active Alna SharyoHitachiJ-TRECKawasaki Railcar ManufacturingKinki SharyoMitsubishi Heavy IndustriesNiigata TransysNippon SharyoSakai Heavy IndustriesToshibaTōyō Denki Seizō
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