Many kinds of rubbers and plastics are applied to the products in railway. Railway plays an important role of public transportation; therefore, safety and reliability of these products are essential requirement. Hence, the outline of fundamental requirement of the products in railway rolling stock are described. The flame retardant and durability are substantial performances for the materials of rolling stock and the light weight of polymeric materials as compared to metal and inorganic materials is positive element for speeding up of rolling stock.
From these backgrounds, the examples of previously studied products are introduced. In the case of rubber, the long-life rubber hose is developed. An old-style rubber hose is organized by natural rubber (NR) and reinforced cotton cloth; however, NR is inferior to ozone crack resistance and strength of cotton cloth is insufficient to synthetic cloth. Therefore, the chloroprene rubber and polyester cloth are applied as alternative materials. In the case of plastic, the polycarbonate (PC) used as plastic glass becomes yellowish through weathering condition. For the longer service life provision, surface laminated PC was prepared and examined about long term stability. Developed surface laminated PC showed lower yellowish formation through weathering condition and expected longer service life.