Hitachi Rail has completed the acquisition of digital rail monitoring business Omnicom from international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty, as first announced in January.
The strategic acquisition supports the growth of Hitachi Rail’s HMAX digital asset management platform, which optimizes railway operations and maintenance and is already installed on over 2,000 trains globally. Omnicom solutions will now feed into the platform’s bespoke offering for Hitachi Rail’s customers around the world.
Omnicom’s proprietary sensor technology, which will support Hitachi Rail customers to optimize their trackside maintenance., includes software and hardware for surveying, inspecting and monitoring rail infrastructure assets including the overhead line and the track.
The monitoring technology can be installed on trains and uses edge computing and machine learning to provide near real-time anomaly detection on rail tracks.
The technology can enable the collection of trillions of bytes of images per day, allowing customers to optimize their trackside maintenance planning and the asset lifecycle.
Commenting on the announcement, Hitachi Rail executive director and chief technical officer Koji Agatsuma said: “This strategic acquisition complements our existing cutting-edge proprietary technology, backed by the digital power of the Hitachi Group.
“Our HMAX platform is driving the digital transformation of rail, and the addition of Omnicom’s track monitoring tools further strengthens our global offer to optimize our customer’s railway systems.”
Sanjay Razdan, managing director of Omnicom, said: “From today our technology will complement Hitachi Rail’s existing digital asset management solutions, enabling HMAX to deliver even more for customers around the world.
“This acquisition will also enable us to benefit from the unique digital capabilities of the wider Hitachi Group, enabling us to continue to innovate and deliver AI-enabled systems that can optimize the management of railway infrastructure.”
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