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 9,510,409
Belgium 8,555,117
China 7,276,950
Italy 6,063,721
Germany 4,448,236

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 5,314,815 4,195,594 -1,119,221
Belgium 4,781,940 3,773,177 -1,008,763
China 3,947,764 3,329,186 -618,578
Italy 3,445,452 2,618,269 -827,183
Germany 2,511,834 1,936,402 -575,432
Switzerland 2,032,885 834,138 -1,198,747
Czechia 1,674,380 1,129,178 -545,202
India 1,040,201 1,470,833 +430,632
Austria 864,035 1,567,192 +703,157
Spain 1,359,518 880,896 -478,622

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 9,273,427
Belgium 7,994,788
China 7,397,498
Germany 4,621,254
France 4,515,477

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 4,913,798 4,359,629 -554,169
Belgium 4,258,135 3,736,653 -521,482
China 3,997,173 3,400,325 -596,848
Germany 2,654,041 1,967,213 -686,828
France 2,613,930 1,901,547 -712,383
Spain 1,697,355 1,178,395 -518,960
Switzerland 2,032,885 836,721 -1,196,164
Czechia 1,721,418 1,124,662 -596,756
India 1,050,559 1,469,680 +419,121
United Kingdom 845,424 357,578 -487,846

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 13
Inner London - West 13
West Midlands 13
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 11
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 10

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

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) 35,853,005
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 11,464,987
Air transport 6,959,713
Road transport 938,920
Other 362,048

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) 20,538,123 15,314,882 -5,223,241
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,300,450 6,164,537 +864,087
Air transport 4,144,054 2,815,659 -1,328,395
Road transport 912,910 26,010 -886,900
Other 124,884 237,164 +112,280

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 15,746,376
Eurotunnel 9,679,410
Felixstowe 5,302,053
Dover / Eurotunnel 3,968,963
Southampton 3,955,597

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 8,529,031 7,217,345 -1,311,686
Eurotunnel 5,774,917 3,904,493 -1,870,424
Felixstowe 3,125,739 2,176,314 -949,425
Dover / Eurotunnel 2,049,180 1,919,783 -129,397
Southampton 1,372,279 2,583,318 +1,211,039
East Midlands Airport 1,485,401 1,045,674 -439,727
London 934,864 937,891 +3,027
Immingham Docks 987,450 841,276 -146,174
Leeds Bradford Airport 892,715 760,961 -131,754
Thamesport 675,736 890,788 +215,052

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
Specialised construction 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 85
54m+ 70
15m-54m 14
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 9,678,147
Sweden 9,498,103
United States 5,577,077
Norway 4,823,506
Australia 4,368,116

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 6,019,948 3,658,199 -2,361,749
Sweden 4,667,780 4,830,323 +162,543
United States 2,891,704 2,685,373 -206,331
Norway 2,645,305 2,178,201 -467,104
Australia 2,804,584 1,563,532 -1,241,052
Austria 2,863,604 1,215,730 -1,647,874
Germany 2,072,852 1,947,655 -125,197
France 1,816,653 1,661,534 -155,119
Spain 1,493,077 585,786 -907,291
Saudi Arabia 752,741 1,198,289 +445,548

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 81,799
XI 33,491
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 97,852 147,716 +49,864
France 65,284 16,515 -48,769
XI 31,441 2,050 -29,391
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) 39,312,715
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 18,013,385
Air transport 11,746,653
Other 514,643
Road transport 26,526

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) 21,895,420 17,417,295 -4,478,125
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 11,038,292 6,975,093 -4,063,199
Air transport 7,125,091 4,621,562 -2,503,529
Other 275,741 238,902 -36,839
Road transport 19,926 6,600 -13,326

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 18,218,783
Immingham Docks 11,810,318
London Heathrow Airport 6,745,788
London Gateway Port 4,962,123
Felixstowe 4,178,343

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 9,666,822 8,551,961 -1,114,861
Immingham Docks 5,975,306 5,835,012 -140,294
London Heathrow Airport 3,946,108 2,799,680 -1,146,428
London Gateway Port 3,590,333 1,371,790 -2,218,543
Felixstowe 2,068,865 2,109,478 +40,613
Southampton 2,419,657 1,494,717 -924,940
London 2,330,031 1,373,945 -956,086
Holyhead 1,822,445 1,776,325 -46,120
Liverpool Docks 2,590,100 695,441 -1,894,659
East Midlands Airport 2,237,571 1,046,971 -1,190,600

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