Fire Safety of Passenter Trains: Fire Hazard Assessment.
Fire Safety of Passenter Trains: Fire Hazard
Assessment.
(782 K)
Bukowski, R. W.; Markos, S. H.
Fire Risk and Hazard Assessment Research Application
Symposium. Research and Practice: Bridging the Gap.
Proceedings. National Fire Protection Research
Foundation. June 25-27, 1997, San Francisco, CA,
121-131 pp, 1997.
Keywords:
fire hazards assessment; fire risk; hazard assessment;
fire protection; passenger vehicles; fire models; heat
release rate; small scale fire tests
Abstract:
Passenger rail systems in the U.S. are experiencing a
renaissance as the speed and comfort of modern trains
make them competitive with other transportation systems.
Commuter and intercity passenger train travel is
becoming more popular. The rail transportation
community is interested in moving from the use of
prescriptive requirements based on bench-scale test
methods to the use of a performance-based approach using
modern fire hazard assessment methods. Moreover, a
comprehensive review of US, French, German, and British
requirements showed that the European rail industry is
moving toward fire hazard and risk-based methods and
away from traditional bench-scale material tests. Thus,
the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)/US Department
of Transportation (USDOT) has contracted with the
National Institute of Standards and Technolgoy (NIST)
under the direction of the Volpe National Transportation
systems Center (USDOT) to devlop new approaches to fire
hazard analysis based on HAZARD I. The current project
involves bench-scale measurements of the fire properties
of existing rail materials in the Cone Calorimeter and
fire testing of full-scale assemblies to verify the
predictive ability of the bench-scale tests. Design
scenarios for fire hazard assessment are being
developed. Modifications to the HAZARD I software are
planned to facilitate its use with rail car
configurations. Full-scale verification testing is
planned. This presentation will focus on the
construction of a baseline fire hazard evaluation of
current trains outfitted with existing materials. Using
this framework it should be possible to evaluate the
potential impact of alternative materials or
arrangements on the effect of fire on passenger train
system safety.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899