German rail market growth rate exceeds global trend

According to a study conducted by SCI Verkehr, the €12.5bn market for railway products services in Germany is predicted to grow at an average of 3.4% per annum to reach €14.6bn by 2021, which is faster than the 2.3% annual global growth rate forecast by SCI last year.

The €6bn German rolling stock market is expected to grow even more strongly during the next five years with a forecast annual growth rate of 4.4%. This is driven by the letting of more regional rail concessions which often specify new fleets of trains. This compares with an annual growth rate of just 2% for the €4.94bn infrastructure market and 2.3% for the €1.52bn systems technology market.

For the first time, SCI Verkehr has assessed the growing market for digital railway products and services in Germany. SCI estimates the size of the German market at €1.23bn. Broken down into market segments, the rolling stock and process-related IT sections are each worth €450m, followed by €300m for systems technology and €20m for railway infrastructure.

“The industry is increasingly faced with the challenge of combining the multitude of currently available approaches as well as high investments in digital technologies into an overarching digital strategy in order to realise the benefits of digitisation in the different parts of the value chain,” says SCI Verkehr’s CEO Ms Maria Leenen. “At the same time, digitisation is also making the railway industry attractive for suppliers who have not yet been part of the industry.”

Source: railwaygazette.com