Freight Wagons - Global Market Trends 2024

With a global volume of more than EUR 31 billion annually, the market for freight wagons plays a central role within the rail industry. SCI’s market study "Freight Wagons – Global Market Trends 2024" is the tenth edition of this study, which analyses the freight wagon market worldwide and provides in-depth insights into market volumes, installed bases, procurement projects and development trends.

The global freight wagon market has experienced heterogeneous development in recent years. Noteworthy is the recovery of Russia—one of the most important markets worldwide—from the war-induced downturn in 2022. Freight wagon production increased significantly in 2023, and further substantial growth is expected in 2024. The situation in China is different: the Chinese market has not yet regained its former strength after the pandemic-related decline in the OEM market. In contrast, India, the second-largest market in Asia, is experiencing a strong upswing. One trend has affected the majority of markets, including Europe and North America: sharply increased purchase prices for freight wagons. This development has played a major role in driving the growth of the OEM market. Despite the subdued economic outlook for the coming years, further growth in the global freight wagon market is expected, although less dynamic than in the past five years (2018-2023). This conclusion is drawn from the latest study "Freight Wagons – Global Market Trends 2024."

In concrete terms, this market study contains:

• A regionally differentiated examination of the global market for freight wagons including an in-depth analysis of all attractive markets in the individual regions, especially in Europe
• A comprehensive analysis of current installed bases in terms of type, operational purpose, quantities and age distributions as well as future procurement potential
• An overview of the most important drivers behind the procurement, fleet development and refurbishment of freight wagons in the individual regions
• Forecast of new procurement and after sales volumes of freight wagons (in EUR) for each region until 2028, retrospective of deliveries up to 2019
• Forecast of future vehicle demand by type and region, subdivided into six main categories (open wagons, covered wagons, flat wagons, intermodal wagons, tank wagons, other/unknown wagons)
• Specific view on the different fleets regarding operators and leasing companies
• Analysis of the current market shares of relevant freight wagon manufacturers and a brief description of important manufacturers in the individual regions
• Brief description of important current and planned procurement projects