Rail Composites Market by Fiber Type (Glass Fiber, Carbon Fiber), Resin Type (Polyester, Phenolic, Epoxy, Vinyl Ester), Manufacturing Process (Lay-up, Injection Molding, Compression Molding, RTM), Application, & Region - Global Forecast to 2028
Updated on : April 01, 2024
Rail Composites Market
Rail Composites Market was valued at USD 1.7 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 2.4 billion by 2028, growing at 7.2% cagr from 2023 to 2028. The high strength and low weight of this composite makes it suitable for various rail applications. Using composite makes the rail carriage lighter and renders greater resistance to heat, external impact, and reduces power consumption by improving overall performance. Various other benefits associated with the reduction of rail carriage weight are lower inertia, less track wear, enhanced stability, and the ability to achieve high speed. With extensive research and cost-effective mass production techniques in place, the demand for composite in the railway sector has increased.
Attractive Opportunities in Rail Composites Market Trends
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Rail Composites Market Dynamics
Driver: Reduced weight & parts consolidation
Currently, weight reduction is an important aspect in the rail industry globally. The advantages of light-weight rail components are better fuel-efficiency and lower greenhouse emissions. For example, a 10% reduction in rail weight can improve fuel efficiency by 5% to 7% for conventional internal combustion engines or can increase the efficiency range of an electric train by 10%. Not only does this help protect the environment but also enables OEMs to meet stringent emission and fuel-economy standards.
Lightweight components contribute to overall rail weight reduction, resulting in reduced fuel consumption and less CO2 emissions. Due to the superior strength to weight ratio, composites and their parts consolidation capability offer dramatic reductions in weight. This enables performance benefits to rail and systems. China accounts for the largest high-speed rail network in the world in 2022, followed by Spain and Japan. As of 2022, China has the longest high-speed rail network with almost 40,500 kilometers of high-speed rail lines. The UK is now well placed to exploit the potential advantages given the number of rail projects, including High-speed line to connect London and the channel tunnel. Due to its light-weight characteristic, the UK aims at making a light-weight bogie structure using composites.
Restraint: High processessing & manufacturing cost
The applications of composites have been increasing dramatically in rail interior, exterior, and other structural applications. However, the high material and manufacturing costs of composites, which are used in the manufacturing of various rail components, is one of the factors restraining the molders and OEMs in the supply chain to use composites. Hence, it is necessary to use cost estimation tools for accurate cost estimation in the early design stages to reduce the cost of composites products. Although GFRP and natural fiber composite are averagely priced, the cost of CFRP is comparatively high.
Opportunity: Increasing demand from emerging economies across the world
Traditionally, the glass fiber and carbon fiber composites industry was concentrated in Japan, North America, and Europe. However, in recent years, there has been significant change in emerging economies in Asia Pacific and the Rest of the World. There has been increasing demand for glass fiber and carbon fiber composites in the rail industry in emerging economies, such as India, Brazil, and China. To meet the demand, China has launched a number of research projects on glass fiber and carbon fiber composites and their industrialization.
Due to the growing demand for infrastructure in emerging countries, the need for rail composites is rapidly increasing. The rapidly growing population in countries such as China and India have boosted the growth of the transportation industryriod.
Challenge: Development of cost-effective technologies
The high cost of composite has been a major concern associated with its growth in the rail industry. There are large applications of composites which are not yet commercialized because of cost constraints of composite materials. Developing low-cost technologies is a major challenge for researchers and major manufacturers. Carbon composite is only introduced in high-end luxury and HSR due to the high cost of carbon fiber.
Rail Composites Market Ecosystem
Based on the fiber type, the glass fiber composites segment dominated the market in terms of value and volume.
Glass fiber composites is commonly used in different applications. In case of fiberglass, high number of tiny glass fibers are compiled together and held rigidly in place by a plastic polymer resin. Common resins used in composites include polyester, phenolic, vinyl ester, and epoxy. Due to its superior physical and mechanical properties, such as strength, flexibility, durability, stability, light-weight as well as resistance to heat, temperature, and moisture, glass fiber is used in different rail interior and exterior applications.
Based on application, the exterior components accounted for second-largest market share in terms of value.
In the exterior application segment, composites are used in, side panels, roofs, doors, front nose, vestibule area, and so on. Presently, glass composites are majorly used for manufacturing exterior components along with carbon composites. Carbon fiber composites have many potential applications in the rail industry; however, the high cost still reserves carbon composite only for a handful of applications, such as front nose, beams, flywheel, and others.
Asia Pacific to be the largest market for rail composites during the forecast period.
The growth of rail composites market in Asia-Pacific is driven by its increasing consumption in various HSR, metro, and inter-city trains. This increase in growth is because of the high industrial growth in countries such as China, India, and South Korea. Furthermore, China has become the single-largest consumer of composites in rail applications and is expected to further strengthen its position. The economic expansion and growing population in India will raise the need to develop the country’s public transportation system. This is likely to result in the expansion of the HSR and metro rail networks, and consequently usage of composite in rail applications will increase.
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Rail Composites Market Players
The rail composites market is dominated by a few globally established players. Gurit Holdings AG (Switzerland), Hexcel Corporation (US), 3A Composites (Switzerland), Toray Industries, Inc. (Japan), Solvay (Belgium), Teijin Limited (Japan), Premier Composite Technologies (UAE), Dartford Composites Ltd. (UK), Exel Composites (Finland), Avient Corporation (US), Kineco Limited (India), BASF SE (Germany), AVIC Cabin Systems (UK), BFG International (Bahrain), and Reliance Industries Ltd. (India). among others, are the main producers in the global market.
These companies are focusing and attempting to establish themselves in the rail composites market by employing a range of inorganic and organic approaches. A thorough competitive analysis of these major rail composites market participants is included in the research, along with information on their company profiles, most recent advancements, and important market strategies.
Rail Composites Market Report Scope
|
Report Metric |
Details |
|
Market size available for years |
2020–2028 |
|
Base year considered |
2022 |
|
Forecast period |
2023–2028 |
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Units considered |
Value (USD Million), Volume (Kiloton) |
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Segments Covered |
By Fiber Type, Resin Type, Manufacturing Process, Application, and By Region |
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Geographies covered |
Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World |
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Companies covered |
Gurit Holdings AG (Switzerland), Hexcel Corporation (US), 3A Composites (Switzerland), Toray Industries, Inc. (Japan), Solvay (Belgium), Teijin Limited (Japan), Premier Composite Technologies (UAE), Dartford Composites Ltd. (UK), Exel Composites (Finland), Avient Corporation (US), Kineco Limited (India), BASF SE (Germany), AVIC Cabin Systems (UK), BFG International (Bahrain), and Reliance Industries Ltd. (India). |
The study categorizes the rail composites market based on By Fiber Type, Resin Type, Manufacturing Process, Application, and By Region
By Fiber Type
- Glass Fiber Composites
- Carbon Fiber Composites
- Others
By Resin Type:
- Polyester
- Phenolic
- Epoxy
- Vinyl Ester
- Others
By Manufacturing Process:
- Lay-up
- Filament Winding
- Injection Molding
- Pultrusion
- Compression Molding
- RTM
- Others
By Application:
- Interior components
- Exterior Components
- Others
By Region:
- North America
- Asia Pacific
- Europe
- Rest of the World
Recent Developments
- In Jaunary 2024, Teijin Limited announced that the company will start production and sales of Tenax TM carbon fiber which can be applied in various industrial applications..
- In Jaunary 2024, Toray Industries, Inc. developed TORAYCA M46X carbon fiber. The new offering is around 20% stronger than others in the TORAYCA™ MX series while maintaining a high tensile modulus. Utilizing TORAYCA™ M46X reduces the weight of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic materials, lowering its environmental impact.
- In December 2023, MODEC, Inc. and Toray Industries, Inc. have jointly developed a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) patch technique for repairs on Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) and Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) systems.
- In October 2023, Toray Industries, Inc., announced that it decided to expand its French subsidiary Toray Carbon Fibers. This move will increase the annual capacity at the Abidos plant (South-West France) from 5,000 metric tons annually to 6,000 metric tons. Production is expected to start in 2025.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
Which are the major companies in the rail composites market? What are their major strategies to strengthen their market presence?
Some of the key players in the rail composites market are Gurit Holdings AG (Switzerland), Hexcel Corporation (US), 3A Composites (Switzerland), Toray Industries, Inc. (Japan), Solvay (Belgium), Teijin Limited (Japan), Premier Composite Technologies (UAE), Dartford Composites Ltd. (UK), Exel Composites (Finland), Avient Corporation (US), Kineco Limited (India), BASF SE (Germany), AVIC Cabin Systems (UK), BFG International (Bahrain), and Reliance Industries Ltd. (India).
What are the drivers and opportunities for the rail composites market?
Increasing demand for high-speed rail (HSR) across the globe is anticipated to accelerate market expansion globally.
Which region is expected to hold the highest market share?
Asia Pacific, and Europe’s rail composites market has been experiencing growth and significant industry demand.
What is the total CAGR expected to be recorded for the rail composites market during 2023-2028?
The CAGR is expected to record a CAGR of 7.2% from 2023-2028.
How is the rail composites market aligned?
The market is growing at a significant pace. The market is a potential market, and many manufacturers are planning business strategies to expand their existing business. .
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The study involves two major activities in estimating the current market size for the rail composites market. Exhaustive secondary research was done to collect information on the market, peer market, and parent market. The next step was to validate these findings, assumptions, and sizing with industry experts across the value chain through primary research. Both top-down and bottom-up approaches were employed to estimate the complete market size. After that, market breakdown and data triangulation were used to estimate the market size of segments and subsegments.
Secondary Research
Secondary sources referred to for this research study include financial statements of companies offering rail composites and information from various trade, business, and professional associations. Secondary research has been used to obtain critical information about the industry’s value chain, the total pool of key players, market classification, and segmentation according to industry trends to the bottom-most level and regional markets. The secondary data was collected and analyzed to arrive at the overall size of the rail composites market, which was validated by primary respondents.
Primary Research
Extensive primary research was conducted after obtaining information regarding the rail composites market scenario through secondary research. Several primary interviews were conducted with market experts from both the demand and supply sides across major countries of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. Primary data was collected through questionnaires, emails, and telephonic interviews. The primary sources from the supply side included various industry experts, such as Chief X Officers (CXOs), Vice Presidents (VPs), Directors from business development, marketing, product development/innovation teams, and related key executives from rail composites industry vendors; system integrators; component providers; distributors; and key opinion leaders. Primary interviews were conducted to gather insights such as market statistics, data on revenue collected from the products and services, market breakdowns, market size estimations, market forecasting, and data triangulation. Primary research also helped in understanding the various trends related to type, application, and region. Stakeholders from the demand side, such as CIOs, CTOs, CSOs, and installation teams of the customer/end users who are using rail composites products were interviewed to understand the buyer’s perspective on the suppliers, products, component providers, and their current usage of rail composites and future outlook of their business which will affect the overall market.
The Breakup of Primary Research:
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Market Size Estimation
The research methodology used to estimate the size of the rail composites market includes the following details. The market sizing of the market was undertaken from the demand side. The market was upsized based on procurements and adoption in rail plastic composite products in different applications at a regional level. Such procurements provide information on the demand aspects of the rail composites industry for each application. For each application, all possible segments of the rail composites market were integrated and mapped.
Rail Composites Market Size: Botton Up Approach
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Rail Composites Market Size: Top-Down Approach
Data Triangulation
After arriving at the overall size from the market size estimation process explained above, the total market was split into several segments and subsegments. The data triangulation and market breakdown procedures explained below were implemented, wherever applicable, to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics for various market segments and subsegments. The data was triangulated by studying various factors and trends from the demand and supply sides. Along with this, the market size was validated using both the top-down and bottom-up approaches.
Market Definition
A composite is a combination of two or more materials that have better properties than those of the individual components. It is a blend of least two immiscible components, with different structures, whose individual features combine to provide improved performance. Composites are formed by a combination of a matrix and reinforcement. In a composite, fibers are reinforced and are used to fortify the matrix in terms of strength and stiffness. The reinforcement fibers can be cut and aligned in different ways to affect the properties of the resulting composites. The matrix, normally, a form of resin, keeps the reinforcement in the desired orientation and also protects the reinforcement from chemical and environmental attack. The composites that gets used in rail exterior, interior, structural and other rail applications are considered as rail composites.
Key Stakeholders
- Rail Composites Manufacturers
- Raw Materials Suppliers
- Distributors and Suppliers
- End-use Applications
- Industry Associations
- R&D Institutions
- Environment Support Agencies
Report Objectives
- To define, describe, and forecast the rail composites market size in terms of volume and value
- To provide detailed information regarding the key factors, such as drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges influencing market growth
- To analyze and project the global rail composites market by fiber type, resin type, manufacturing process, application, and region
- To forecast the market size concerning five main regions (along with country-level data), namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Rest of the World, and analyze the significant region-specific trends
- To strategically analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions of the submarkets to the overall market
- To analyze the market opportunities and the competitive landscape for stakeholders and market leaders
- To assess recent market developments and competitive strategies, such as agreements, contracts, acquisitions, and new product developments/new product launches, to draw the competitive landscape
- To strategically profile the key market players and comprehensively analyze their core competencies
Available Customizations
MarketsandMarkets offers following customizations for this market report:
Additional country-level analysis of the rail composites market
Product Analysis
- Product matrix, which provides a detailed comparison of the product portfolio of each company's market
Growth opportunities and latent adjacency in Rail Composites Market