Development of China Rail Fastener Industry and Main Barriers to Entry

I. Development of rail fastener industry
China’s rail fastener manufacturers conduct independent technology research and development authorized by the Academy of Railway Sciences, have independent intellectual property rights, and have their own competitive advantages. In recent years, China has vigorously carried out the construction of railways and urban rail transit, and the technical level has been rapidly improved. From a global perspective, among the many rail fastener products and technologies, countries such as China, Germany, and Japan are more representative.
The technical development trends of the China’s rail fastener industry are as follows:
(1) The technical level of the industry has been steadily improved
The function of the rail fastener is to fix the rail on the railway sleeper, maintain the gauge and prevent the rail from moving longitudinally relative to the sleeper, provide elasticity to the entire rail structure, and at the same time provide insulation. Among them, the non-metallic parts of the track fasteners are the core components to ensure the accuracy and smoothness of the railway track. They play a decisive role in the insulation performance and service life of the overall fasteners. The process design, formula design, mold design and development in the production process are important The level of technology is very important. In recent years, China's rail fastener manufacturers have continuously strengthened independent research and development, and the industry level has been greatly improved.
(2) R&D and application of new materials and new processes have become the core of competition
The non-metal parts of track fasteners are mainly made of modified nylon, natural rubber, polyurethane composite materials, etc., supplemented with different varieties and dosages of additives to meet the requirements of various performance indicators, and the product is manufactured by the corresponding process, and then produced a variety of non-metallic parts of track fasteners. Therefore, the formulation of raw materials and the corresponding processing technology have become the core of the industry's competition. High-quality formulations and processes can make the product have more excellent performance under the same conditions, or reduce the production cost of the product on the basis of the same performance index.
Due to the wide variety of non-metal parts of track fasteners, there are large differences in the performance of various products, so there are also large differences in the technical difficulty of manufacturing. Some products have higher performance requirements, and their formulas and processes are relatively complicated. The production usually requires long-term repeated experiments and accumulation to obtain appropriate formulas and processes. With the technological innovation of the railway and urban rail transit industries, the technical requirements for track fasteners will continue to increase. Only when manufacturers master the core technology of raw material formulations and processes can they remain invincible in market competition.
(3) Increased product types and accelerated upgrades
The customer groups of rail fasteners mainly include: railway systems and urban rail transit systems. The railway system is divided into high-speed railways, heavy-duty railways and ordinary railways; the urban rail transit system is divided into subways, light rails, monorails, trams, magnetic levitation and urban express rails. Various rail systems have different requirements for the types of rail fastener products, which puts forward higher requirements for the rapid response ability of enterprise R&D and production. Enterprises with strong application-oriented R&D capabilities, strong production organization and supporting coordination capabilities can do better to satisfy the market's needs.

II. Barriers in the rail fastener industry
(1) Barriers to market access
The safety of railway transportation is of great importance. At present, the state implements a stricter product certification system for important parts and components and special equipment involved in the construction of railways and urban rail transit. Rail fastener manufacturers need to obtain a railway product certification certificate issued by the China Railway Inspection and Certification Center (CRCC) before they can supply the railway construction owner.
The certification of non-metallic parts of track fasteners requires the integration certification documents and the original authorization documents of the integrator, the product identification or technical review documents of the China Railway Corporation, and the recent years issued by the railway company, the railway bureau (group) or the railway construction party When the applicant enterprise needs to apply for a product trial certificate, it should also provide a trial evaluation test outline (the evaluation test outline must be reported to the Railway Corporation Transportation Bureau for verification) and the quality commitment during the evaluation period. The content of the trial evaluation test outline should at least include the evaluation purpose, evaluation items and content, quantity, division of responsibilities, evaluation tracking and inspection record requirements, probation review, qualification evaluation standards, etc. The probation period is three years. In addition, enterprises that produce important railway parts and components shall meet the following conditions and be licensed and authorized by the competent railway department of the State Council: have professional production and testing equipment that are tested and inspected in accordance with national standards; have corresponding professional and technical personnel; have complete products Quality assurance system and safety management system; meet other conditions stipulated by laws and administrative regulations. Therefore, the rail fastener industry has high market entry barriers.
(2) Technical barriers
Rail fasteners are key components required for the construction of railways and urban rail transit. Generally, they are customized to meet the requirements and use environments of different types of rails. They have high standards for raw materials, production processes and product quality. It is required to be highly professional and technical, and it is a technology-intensive product. At present, the industry has formed a relatively complete R&D system. Track fastener manufacturers conduct R&D and production of various parts and complete sets of fastener systems in accordance with the technical standards formulated by the National Railway Administration and the technical drawings authorized by the Chinese Academy of Railway Sciences. The supporting assembly of the industry has relatively high professionalism and difficulty in obtaining relevant scientific research results. At the same time, with the continuous improvement of the technical level of China's rail fastener industry, the requirements of the Academy of Railway Sciences on the quality index parameters of fastener products have also increased, which requires rail fastener manufacturers to continuously increase independent research and development and investment in high-end equipment To meet higher technical requirements. Therefore, the technical expertise in the industry will become stronger and stronger, forming a higher technical barrier.
(3) Reputation barriers
The construction and operation of railways and urban rail transit are closely related to the life safety and daily life of the general public. Rail fasteners play a key role in ensuring the safe operation of trains, and are also highly valued by the government railway authorities and the China Railway Corporation. In addition to guiding its affiliated companies to conduct material management and bidding and procurement in a standardized manner, the Material Management Department of China Railway Corporation also assumes the responsibility of establishing a railway material quality monitoring system and a supplier credit evaluation system, and is responsible for the stability and Security is subject to long-term system assessment and supervision. At present, most of the suppliers in the industry have established long-term and stable business relationships with railway construction owners, and have accumulated a good reputation. The first-mover advantage is relatively obvious. For new entrants, establishing corporate and product reputation not only requires a long period of time to accumulate, but also requires a large amount of manpower, material, financial, R&D and other resources to continuously guarantee mutual trust relationship.
(4) Barriers to cooperation
A complete track fastener system is composed of metal parts and non-metal parts. Various component companies generally form a business consortium through cooperation and provide their own products to assemble a complete fastener system. The company responsible for the final assembly is used as the track fastener. The integration supplier participates in the bidding on behalf of the entire consortium. Through long-term collaboration, a relatively close and stable mutually beneficial cooperation relationship has been established between various companies in the consortium. Unless major quality problems or major disputes occur, it is difficult for a single component manufacturer outside the industry to enter the existing consortium system. Inside. At the same time, the assembled track fasteners need to be used on the road, technical review, and tested before they can be used on the railway construction site. Metal parts and non-metal parts require extremely high matching accuracy, so track fastener integration suppliers generally do not seek new foreign parts manufacturers.
As China's leading manufacturer of  rail fasteners for conventional railway, metro, urban transit and high-speed railway, Anyang Railway Equipment Co., Ltd(AT) has provided various rail fastening systems for many projects in China and foreign countries.