Yasushi Yokosuka
Transport Management & Control Systems Div., Transportation Systems Div., Industrial Systems, Hitachi, Ltd.
Takenori Wajima
Rolling Stock Engineering Dept., Rolling Stock Systems Div., Transportation Systems Div., Industrial Systems, Hitachi, Ltd.
Sumiyuki Okazaki
Signaling & Power Supply Systems Div., Transport Management & Control Systems Div., Transportation Systems Div., Industrial Systems, Hitachi, Ltd.
Tatsuo Horiba, Dr. Eng.
Design & Development Division, Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
Nobuyasu Kanekawa, Dr. Eng.
3rd Dept. of Systems Research, Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.
Osamu Suzuki, Dr. Eng.
1st Dept., Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.
As people have become more aware of global warming and other environmental threats, the importance of railways as an environmentally-friendly mode of transportation has increased. Besides these environmental challenges, Japan is also faced with a worrisome demographic dilemma of a declining birthrate coupled with a growing elderly population. The development of more environmentally-friendly technologies is certainly a high priority. At the same time, rail systems must be continually enhanced and upgraded in ways that make trains the transportation mode of choice for a large segment of the population, so the role and contribution of railway systems in society continue to grow. If more people ride trains even as the current demographic trends continue to play out, that will effectively reduce the energy consumption associated with transportation. This calls for constant enhancement of safer and more stable transportation through ongoing technological development, as well as efforts to improve the quality of train travel — making services smoother and more comfortable, providing timely information services, and so on.
A-train, railcar, ATP, ATI, battery, sensor, simulation
