Rail Composites Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Global Rail Composites Market size is evaluated at USD 1,469 million in 2021 and is projected to register a CAGR of over 5% during the forecast period (2022-2027).

The market was negatively impacted by COVID-19 in 2020. However, the market has been expected to have reached pre-pandemic levels and is expected to grow steadily in coming years.

Key Highlights

• Over the medium term, the major factors driving the growth of the market studied are increasing railway projects in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in China, India, and Singapore, and global demand for High-Speed Rail.
• The lack of railway infrastructure in a few countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand, and resin issues in their FST performance, are hindering the growth of the market studied.
• However, the increasing demand for lightweight rail rolling is expected to create opportunities for the market studied in near future.
• Asia-Pacific region represents the largest market and is also expected to be the fastest-growing market over the forecast period owing to the increasing consumption from countries such as China, India, and Japan.

Key Market Trends

Exterior Application to Dominate the Market

• Composites are being widely used in various applications in the locomotive industry. It plays a major role in the manufacturing of trains. The demand for lightweight and durable body parts in railways is increasing day by day.
• While composite components were initially limited to the interior parts of the railway bogies, the heavy improvements in the structural properties of the composites and their low weight have forced manufacturers to use composites for external components in recent decades.
• The exterior structural components where composites can be used are kinematic hatches, roof panels, exterior side panels, side skirts, and doors.
• Owing to the properties such as high strength to weight ratio and high stiffness to weight ratio, excellent corrosion resistance, and low thermal conductivity, etc., composites are highly used in exterior parts manufacturing.
• Polyester glass fiber composites were initially used for components like exterior noses. However, in recent years, the share of carbon fiber in exterior components has been growing.
• Additionally, the building of a complete rail bogie using carbon fiber indicates the increased usage of composite materials in exterior rail applications.
• The locomotive industry is growing all over the world. United States, China, Russia, and India has the top locomotive industries in the world.
• Several railways projects have been under construction in the United States. Some of them include Las Vegas to Victorville high-speed line with the length of 270 kilometers (km) and will be completed by 2023, Texas Central Railway project with the length of 370 km and will be completed by 2026 among others.
• Increasing investments and construction of new railways routes are expected to boost the demand for the trains, which further is expected to increase the demand for rail composites in coming years.
• Thus, based on the aforementioned aspects the Exterior application is expected to dominate the market.

Asia-Pacific Region to Dominate the Market

• Asia-Pacific region is expected to dominate the global rail composites market during the forecast period.
• Growing population along with increasing urbanization in countries such as China, India, and Japan, etc. are boosting demand for better connectivity and increase in number of trains.
• Governments of these countries have been investing in the locomotive industry, which further is driving the demand for the market studied in the coming years.
• The Chinese government has been investing in railways in recent times. Some of the ongoing railway projects of the country include Lagosto Ibadan railway (156 km), Yinxi High-Speed railway (618 km), and Shanghe to Hangzhou (794 km) among others.
• According to the railway operator, China has 146,300 km of rail lines at the end of 2020, a 20.9 percent increase from the end of 2015.
• Furthermore, the Indian Railways is expected to deliver 58 supercritical and 68 critical projects worth more than USD 15.44 billion in the coming years. 27 supercritical projects will be completed by December 2021, while two projects will be delivered by March 2022.
• In India, several metro projects are going on in recent times. Some of them include Phase 2 of Chennai Metro, Phase 4 of Delhi Metro, East-West Metro in Kolkata among others. These projects are expected to be operational by the beginning of 2025.
• Furthermore, countries such as Japan, ASEAN countries have also been contributing to the growth of the market studied. Therefore, the demand for rail composites is expected to grow in the region over the forecast period.
• Hence, based on the afrorementioned aspects, Asia-Pacific region is expected to dominate the market.

Competitive Landscape

The global rail composites market is fragmented in nature with many players having an insignificant share in the market. The major companies (in no particular order) are Solvay, Hexcel Corporation, TEIJIN LIMITED, Toray Industries, Inc., and LANXESS, among others.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

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