Hitachi Rail opens $30 million Scarborough technology centre

Hitachi Rail, a global maker of trains and signalling, said it opened a $30 million technology centre in Scarborough on November 6, 2026, for more than 1,100 employees. The question is how many of those jobs are new. Railway Supply reported that in November 2024 Hitachi planned 100 new jobs and to keep 1,000 positions at its York Mills office in Toronto, which suggests much of the workforce already worked in the city.

The new centre oversees Hitachi’s signalling work across Canada, including Line 2 of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The TTC awarded Hitachi Rail Canada the contract on July 15 to install communications-based train control (CBTC) on Line 2, a system that uses radio links between trains and a control centre to space them more closely. Design and engineering run through 2028, followed by phased implementation, with completion scheduled for 2037. Once all upgrades are complete, Hitachi Rail expects Line 2 capacity to rise by up to 40%, to as many as 33,000 passengers an hour from 23,400 at today’s peak.

Hitachi’s Canadian experience goes back to the 1970s, when it delivered the signalling behind Vancouver’s SkyTrain, the first driverless subway.

Sources: Hitachi Rail · Railway Supply