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 9,607,450
Belgium 8,874,796
China 7,418,335
Italy 6,386,181
Germany 4,648,731

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 5,307,864 4,299,586 -1,008,278
Belgium 4,800,781 4,074,015 -726,766
China 3,824,054 3,594,281 -229,773
Italy 3,516,472 2,869,709 -646,763
Germany 2,023,418 2,625,313 +601,895
Switzerland 2,089,675 1,012,642 -1,077,033
Czechia 1,775,382 1,234,094 -541,288
India 1,125,496 1,482,427 +356,931
Austria 831,698 1,673,383 +841,685
Spain 1,348,332 919,885 -428,447

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 9,571,110
Belgium 8,280,422
China 7,544,816
Germany 4,810,102
France 4,618,926

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 5,022,383 4,548,727 -473,656
Belgium 4,230,824 4,049,598 -181,226
China 3,875,193 3,669,623 -205,570
Germany 2,619,330 2,190,772 -428,558
France 2,563,760 2,055,166 -508,594
Switzerland 2,089,675 1,015,225 -1,074,450
Czechia 1,822,420 1,229,578 -592,842
Spain 1,665,861 1,248,452 -417,409
India 1,144,854 1,472,274 +327,420
Austria 509,021 737,419 +228,398

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 14
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 11 9 -2
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) 36,882,547
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 11,811,885
Air transport 7,448,027
Road transport 938,920
Other 372,445

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) 19,778,087 17,104,460 -2,673,627
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,434,387 6,377,498 +943,111
Air transport 4,263,135 3,184,892 -1,078,243
Road transport 912,910 26,010 -886,900
Other 104,136 268,309 +164,173

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 16,079,389
Eurotunnel 10,129,910
Felixstowe 5,396,927
Southampton 4,046,155
Dover / Eurotunnel 3,968,963

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 8,442,524 7,636,865 -805,659
Eurotunnel 5,528,271 4,601,639 -926,632
Felixstowe 2,875,641 2,521,286 -354,355
Southampton 1,462,837 2,583,318 +1,120,481
Dover / Eurotunnel 1,935,531 2,033,432 +97,901
East Midlands Airport 1,521,010 1,294,205 -226,805
London 927,627 969,036 +41,409
Immingham Docks 939,478 951,513 +12,035
Leeds Bradford Airport 987,636 797,682 -189,954
Thamesport 686,129 963,597 +277,468

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 18
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 14
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 13

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 35
2025-11 38
2025-10 34
2025-09 34
2025-08 29

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 89
54m+ 71
15m-54m 15
Other 14
0-1m 13

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 9,964,184
Sweden 9,776,871
United States 5,998,175
Norway 5,062,518
Australia 4,568,309

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 6,064,164 3,900,020 -2,164,144
Sweden 4,444,090 5,332,781 +888,691
United States 3,204,727 2,793,448 -411,279
Norway 2,558,043 2,504,475 -53,568
Australia 2,855,986 1,712,323 -1,143,663
Germany 2,402,871 1,996,719 -406,152
Austria 2,472,116 1,609,262 -862,854
France 1,768,379 1,875,584 +107,205
Saudi Arabia 1,085,693 1,306,932 +221,239
Spain 1,517,864 648,573 -869,291

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 245,568
France 94,749
XI 35,434
Belgium 4,676
Turkey 1,393

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 95,504 150,064 +54,560
France 78,234 16,515 -61,719
XI 33,384 2,050 -31,334
Belgium 187 4,489 +4,302
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) 40,477,064
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 19,893,006
Air transport 12,149,562
Other 534,681
Road transport 29,755

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) 21,127,642 19,349,422 -1,778,220
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 12,089,971 7,803,035 -4,286,936
Air transport 6,874,767 5,274,795 -1,599,972
Other 282,669 252,012 -30,657
Road transport 22,130 7,625 -14,505

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 19,082,683
Immingham Docks 12,285,831
London Heathrow Airport 7,024,676
London Gateway Port 5,626,562
Southampton 4,461,626

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 9,624,441 9,458,242 -166,199
Immingham Docks 5,939,260 6,346,571 +407,311
London Heathrow Airport 3,825,993 3,198,683 -627,310
London Gateway Port 4,107,600 1,518,962 -2,588,638
Southampton 2,432,698 2,028,928 -403,770
Felixstowe 2,137,323 2,185,168 +47,845
London 1,952,255 1,770,682 -181,573
Holyhead 1,866,685 1,832,156 -34,529
East Midlands Airport 2,176,278 1,222,960 -953,318
Liverpool Docks 2,617,512 770,464 -1,847,048

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