Our laboratory has concentrated on the research on various aspects of railway systems. One of the fields of our particular interest is the energy-related studies, in which various techniques to reduce energy consumption has been sought. Included herein is the application of energy storage ... The supervisor of the research group, Prof R Takagi, has been the project leader of two of the IEC standards for energy storage systems in railways (IEC 62864-1 and IEC 62924). Also, the group is now proposing UCRT (Ultra-Convenient Rail Transport), intended to revolutionise services provided by the railway systems through the combination of various techniques and closer integration of the subsystems of the railways as a whole.