Fire Safety of Passenger Trains: A Review of U.S. and Foreign Approaches

Details

• Creators:
  Peacock, R. D. ; Bukowski, R. W. ; Jones, W.J. ; Reneke, P. A. ; Babrauskas, V. ; Brown, J.E.
• Corporate Creators:
  John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
• Corporate Contributors:
  Building and Fire Research Laboratory (U.S.)
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Fire detection systems
  • Fires
  • Hazards
  • Passenger trains
  • Commuting
  • Transportation safety
  • Railroad safety
  • High speed ground transportation
  • Fire safety
  • Passenger trains
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT-VNTSC-FRA-93-26 ; DOT/FRA/ORD-93/23
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Final Report March 1993-November 1993
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration
• Abstract:
  could develop into potentially life-threatening events. Fire safety is an area of particular interest for both ; conventional intercity and commuter trains, as well as new alternative high-speed train technologies. These ; technologies include steel-wheel-on-rail and magnetic levitation (maglev) systems. ; In 1989, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) published fire safety guidelines which address the fIamiability and ; smoke characteristics of materials used in intercity and commuter passenger cars. ; Recent advances in fire test methods and hazard analysis techniques necessitate re-examination of fire safety ; requirements for passenger trains. Several studies have indicated almost random ability of current tests to predict ; actual fire behavior. Fire safety in any application, including transportation systems, requires a multi-faceted ; systems approach. The effects of vehicle design, material controls, detection and suppression systems, and emergency ; egress/access on the overall fire safety of the particular transportation system must all be considered. ; This report presents a detailed comparison of fire safety approaches used for passenger trains in the United States, ; France, and Germany. Strengths and weaknesses of current methods for measuring the fire performance of rail ; transportation systems are presented. An optimum systems approach to fire safety which addresses typical passenger ; train fire scenarios is analyzed. ; A major conclusion is that fire hazard and fire risk assessment methods supported by measurement methods based on heat ; release rate (HRR) provide a means to better predict real world fire behavior.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  R4021/RR493
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/8663/dot_8663_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 10.39 MB]
• Collection(s):
  Volpe Center ; Federal Railroad Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:696bbe9bd4433bb0863d65114a7e15a6692fc8651312af3680bea0452a3bb39d21948b9fab988130f47bc83916fb10759b2e5a12a17df1a1511b79462d8db8ab