Import/export HS code 8608: Railway or tramway track parts and safety equipment

Includes all types of mechanical and electromechanical parts for railway or tramway tracks, such as signals, safety devices, and traffic control systems. Also covers parts for roads, waterways, parking, ports, and airfields

Why this is important if you are looking for potential customers in the UK:

  • It helps you understand the market size for your product in the UK.
  • It provides you with a list of potential leads who have bought similar products.

* UK only, last 24 months analysed

Imports by country

What this shows: Import market volume by exporter country into the UK.

Top 5 values

Country £
France 9,690,276
Belgium 8,998,277
China 6,901,783
Italy 6,424,886
Germany 4,430,848

Countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month volume, right side by second 12-month volume, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Country First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
France 4,993,254 4,697,022 -296,232
Belgium 5,017,812 3,980,465 -1,037,347
China 2,937,091 3,964,692 +1,027,601
Italy 3,534,735 2,890,151 -644,584
Germany 2,119,824 2,311,024 +191,200
Switzerland 2,090,991 992,962 -1,098,029
Czechia 1,798,474 1,227,440 -571,034
India 1,057,230 1,466,293 +409,063
Austria 811,171 1,644,489 +833,318
Spain 1,370,127 826,623 -543,504

Imports by country of origin

What this shows: Import volume by production origin country. Differences from exporter-country data can indicate re-export routes.

Top 5 values

Origin £
Italy 9,630,885
Belgium 8,276,277
China 7,039,316
France 4,781,026
Germany 4,462,235

Country of origin rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Origin countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Origin First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Italy 5,061,506 4,569,379 -492,127
Belgium 4,396,805 3,879,472 -517,333
China 3,014,650 4,024,666 +1,010,016
France 2,345,605 2,435,421 +89,816
Germany 2,530,585 1,931,650 -598,935
Switzerland 2,089,675 995,545 -1,094,130
Czechia 1,845,100 1,225,321 -619,779
Spain 1,637,196 1,201,009 -436,187
India 1,058,235 1,475,646 +417,411
United Kingdom 481,490 804,348 +322,858

Importers across UK regions

What this shows: Number of importing companies by UK ITL2 region.

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 16
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 13
West Midlands 13
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 11
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 11

UK regions rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: UK regions are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month importer count, right side by second 12-month importer count, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

UK region First 12m Second 12m Delta
Inner London - West 13 9 -4
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 7 9 +2
West Midlands 9 7 -2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 8 9 +1
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 10 5 -5
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 7 7 +0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 6 8 +2
Inner London - East 5 8 +3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 6 7 +1
Greater Manchester 4 6 +2

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 37,060,953
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,991,108
Air transport 7,554,335
Road transport 938,920
Other 366,365

Transport rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Transport modes are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Transport First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 18,984,111 18,076,842 -907,269
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,165,536 5,825,572 +660,036
Air transport 4,470,982 3,083,353 -1,387,629
Road transport 912,910 26,010 -886,900
Other 101,790 264,575 +162,785

Import volume by port

What this shows: Import value handled by each UK port.

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 16,298,244
Eurotunnel 10,344,844
Felixstowe 5,306,565
Dover / Eurotunnel 3,579,876
Southampton 3,443,192

Port rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Ports are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Port First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Dover 8,673,884 7,624,360 -1,049,524
Eurotunnel 5,635,574 4,709,270 -926,304
Felixstowe 1,937,855 3,368,710 +1,430,855
Dover / Eurotunnel 1,601,493 1,978,383 +376,890
Southampton 1,412,510 2,030,682 +618,172
East Midlands Airport 1,556,303 1,246,189 -310,114
Immingham Docks 1,023,461 985,972 -37,489
London 843,093 1,056,589 +213,496
Leeds Bradford Airport 1,004,717 693,212 -311,505
Thamesport 718,323 938,369 +220,046

Importer companies by SIC division

What this shows: Industry breakdown (SIC divisions) of importing companies.

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Security and investigation activities 28
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 19
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 19
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 14
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 14

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 38
2025-10 34
2025-09 34
2025-08 29
2025-07 38

Top importers

What this shows: Companies with the highest number of months traded for this HS code.

Importer company size by revenue band

What this shows: Distribution of importers across company revenue bands.

Top 5 values

Revenue Companies
1m-15m 92
54m+ 70
15m-54m 17
Other 14
0-1m 12

Import seasonality

What this shows: Average monthly import pattern from historical data.

Exports by country

What this shows: Export market volume by destination country from the UK.

Top 5 values

Country £
Ireland 9,799,474
Sweden 9,690,885
United States 6,467,778
Norway 4,883,726
Australia 4,665,817

Export countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Destination countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export volume, right side by second 12-month export volume, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Country First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Ireland 6,030,370 3,769,104 -2,261,266
Sweden 4,528,312 5,162,573 +634,261
United States 3,601,770 2,866,008 -735,762
Norway 2,620,208 2,263,518 -356,690
Australia 2,845,793 1,820,024 -1,025,769
Germany 2,479,992 1,918,155 -561,837
Austria 2,196,281 1,996,892 -199,389
France 1,973,361 1,955,162 -18,199
Saudi Arabia 1,090,378 1,279,191 +188,813
Spain 1,454,103 712,536 -741,567

Exports by country of origin

What this shows: Export volume by production origin country. For re-exports, indicates where goods originated before UK export.

Top 5 values

Origin £
Austria 238,045
XU 161,169
France 107,305
XI 34,460
Belgium 7,061

Export origin countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Origin countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Origin First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Austria 97,197 140,848 +43,651
XU 82,716 78,453 -4,263
France 82,912 24,393 -58,519
XI 33,384 1,076 -32,308
Belgium 2,572 4,489 +1,917
Turkey 0 1,393 +1,393

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 40,200,208
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 20,753,411
Air transport 12,164,359
Other 549,433
Road transport 34,548

Export transport rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Transport modes are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Transport First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 20,756,848 19,443,360 -1,313,488
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 12,791,154 7,962,257 -4,828,897
Air transport 6,897,597 5,266,762 -1,630,835
Other 298,781 250,652 -48,129
Road transport 26,923 7,625 -19,298

Export volume by port

What this shows: Export value handled by each UK port.

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 19,450,043
Immingham Docks 11,917,053
London Heathrow Airport 7,062,234
London Gateway Port 5,903,571
Southampton 5,052,697

Export port rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Ports are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Port First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Dover / Eurotunnel 10,009,483 9,440,560 -568,923
Immingham Docks 5,974,505 5,942,548 -31,957
London Heathrow Airport 3,788,378 3,273,856 -514,522
London Gateway Port 3,830,814 2,072,757 -1,758,057
Southampton 2,962,239 2,090,458 -871,781
Felixstowe 2,205,132 1,941,778 -263,354
London 1,563,475 2,146,257 +582,782
Holyhead 1,839,459 1,724,885 -114,574
East Midlands Airport 2,227,465 1,237,504 -989,961
Liverpool Docks 2,501,786 799,936 -1,701,850

Quick facts

HS code: 8608

Coverage: United Kingdom, most metrics for the last 24 months

Description: Includes all types of mechanical and electromechanical parts for railway or tramway tracks, such as signals, safety devices, and traffic control systems. Also covers parts for roads, waterways, parking, ports, and airfields