Concepts for Fire Protection of Passenger Rail Transportation Vehicles: Past, Present, and Future.
Concepts for Fire Protection of Passenger Rail
Transportation Vehicles: Past, Present, and Future.
(2073 K)
Peacock, R. D.; Reneke, P. A.; Jones, W. W.; Bukowski,
R. W.; Babrauskas, V.
Fire and Materials, Vol. 19, No. 2, 71-87, March/April
1995.
Keywords:
fire protection; passenger vehicles; transportation;
heat release rate; hazard analysis; fire hazard; risk
assessment; railroads; fire risk assessment
Abstract:
Recent advances in passenger rail transportation, fire
test methods, and hazard analysis necessitate
re-examination of requirements for fire safety. Several
studies have indicated nearly random ability of current
bench-scale tests to predict actual fire behavior. Fire
safety in any application, including transportation,
requires a multi-faceted approach. The effects of
vehicle design, material selection, detection and
suppression systems, and emergency egress and their
interaction, on the overall fire safety of the passenger
trains must all be considered. The strengths and
weaknesses of current methods for measuring the fire
performance of rail transportation systems are
evaluated. A systems approach to fire safety which
addressed typical passenger train fire scenarios is
analyzed. A rationale is presented for the direction in
which most fire science-oriented organizations in the
world are clearly headed - the use of fire hazard and
fire risk assessment methods supported by measurement
methods based on heat release rate.
