In this paper, a theoretical method was derived to redesign carbody members by substituting light-weight materials, and to estimate their structural characteristics. Some performance indices to estimate structural behaviors were derived in order to obtain equivalent designs in case of material substitutions under important design constraints of rolling stock, such as bending stiffness, natural frequency, bending and buckling strength. Validity of the theoretical method was evaluated by comparing its results with finite element results in some examples where the aluminium alloy was substituted for the structural steel. The numerical results of the examples show that the proposed method gives reasonable initial guesses for the material substitution designs.