Faced with trade disruption and new tariffs, Canada has responded with ambition. We are entering a period of unprecedented investment in major projects, with transportation infrastructure emerging as a national priority. Transit alone now accounts for roughly $123 billion of the country's largest projects. From transportation to trade corridors, there is a clear ambition to strengthen economic resilience, build greater industrial sovereignty and lay the foundation for long-term prosperity.
Capital and ambition are a good start. The real goal should be to leave a lasting industrial and economic legacy, and that depends on more than just money. It depends on the talent, technology and organizational competence needed to deliver complex, long-term projects. Building that capability takes time and sustained investment. It also depends on the commitment of businesses to localize that capability in Canada. That way, they’ll have the capability to win work internationally in the future and sustain the long-term benefits of today’s infrastructure spending for decades to come.
Hitachi Rail Canada’s strategy is straightforward: grow our Canadian business for the long term. We aim to secure and deliver the major transportation projects that federal and provincial governments are bringing forward now. Winning important projects allows us to bring the technology and capability from our global business and localize it as much as possible in Canada, thereby expanding our engineering and technological competence centres here.
Arnaud Besse, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Hitachi Rail in Canada
We are not starting from scratch. Hitachi Rail has been part of Canada's transit story for 50 years. We invented communications-based train control (CBTC) in Toronto in the 1970s. And ever since, we have supplied the critical signalling technology for subway systems in Canada and around the world. Our Toronto-developed tech is deployed on more than 100 lines in 40 countries. Our business is a genuine Canadian export success story. We employ 1,100 highly skilled engineers at our new Toronto headquarters, as part of our global centre of engineering for digital subway signalling. This summer the TTC awarded us the contract to provide Automatic Train Control for Line 2 Bloor-Danforth. It was a really proud moment for us, and it fuels our ambition to expand and diversify further.
The next frontier is mainline and high-speed signalling. Canada needs these signalling technologies, plus the accompanying telecommunications, power supply and system integration, to create its very first high-speed line and expand its mainline network through more regional and long-distance services.
Hitachi is a world leader in these technologies, with extensive references from around the globe. Our sister company, Hitachi Energy supplies power supply equipment from its large facilities in Quebec, which is crucial for modern, electrified railways. Hitachi Rail is the only domestic provider of subway signalling technology in Canada, we have a strong foundation with deep experience of developing and deploying digital signalling technology from our Toronto HQ.
Our approach to delivering in Canada is to localize our world-leading technology here by expanding the skills and size of our existing engineering base. This enables us to deliver the projects Canada needs now, while broadening the scope of our engineering competence centre here to cover high-speed and mainline as well as urban signalling. From this expanded engineering and technical base, our aim would be to service the growing demand for these technologies in the Americas market, while sustaining high-quality jobs in Canada.
Hitachi Rail will create new long-term jobs to maintain the Ontario Line fleet at a purpose-built operations, service and maintenance facility in Toronto. These are the kinds of skilled, future-focused roles that help build a stronger technical base in Canada. Beyond supporting a world-class transit system, they will create lasting career opportunities for technicians, operators and maintenance professionals for decades to come.
Government has a powerful opportunity to amplify this investment, by creating the right conditions for growth. To deliver at the pace major projects demand, we need lighter regulation and easier routes for high skilled labour to enter the Canadian market. We need personal taxation that is simpler and more competitive, so Canada can attract and keep skilled people. Get these conditions right and investment will not simply be spent in Canada. It will take root here.
The opportunity is real, the talent is here, and the ambition is shared. With continued investment and procurement that rewards local skills and value, Hitachi can keep building the future of rail in Canada, for Canada and for the wider world.
