European Directives such as the Construction Products Directive have led European regulators and industries to utilise harmonised testing methods and classification system for assessing the products used in the construction of buildings. The European Rail Industry is similarly developing harmonised procedures particularly to facilitate interoperability of railway rolling stock. Growth in European crossborder rail movements has further emphasized the need for European harmonisation both of test methods and classification systems for the materials used in vehicles.
The European Commission mandated CEN (CEN 256 WG 1) to identify and standardise the fire test methods for use in the classification of products
and materials employed in railway carriages throughout Europe. In 2013, CEN 256 WG1 and TC9X WG3 published a 7part standard EN 45545, “Fire Protection on Railway Vehicles” which includes: • Part 1: General • Part 2: Requirements for fire behaviour of materials and components
• Part 3: Fire resistance requirements for fire barriers
• Part 4: Fire safety requirements for railway rolling stock design
• Part 5: Fire safety requirements for electrical equipment including that of trolley buses, track guided buses and magnetic levitation vehicles
• Part 6: Fire control and management systems
• Part 7: Fire safety requirements for flammable liquid and flammable gas installations
Part 2 describes the reaction to fire test methods, test conditions and reaction to fire performance required for classification of structural products including flooring, seats, cables and nonlisted items.
This standard specifies that: • Railway vehicles are classified in accordance with the fire hazard level associated with their design and operation.
• Three hazard levels HL 1 to HL 3 are defined, HL 1 being the lowest requirement and HL 3 being the highest.
• The test methods used depend on the product under investigation.
The performance of all the products is determined with respect to ignitability, flame spread and the amounts of heat, smoke and toxic fumes produced. These reaction to fire tests aim to qualify and classify the products according to their final applications which are separated into groups, including structural products, seats, cables and nonlisted items. Each of these products groups are required to meet a specific set of performance requirement levels (listed R1 to R26). Each requirement has a corresponding series of test performance criteria imposed for each fire risk levels HL 1 to HL 3.
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EN 45545-2:2013 – NEW F I R E C LASSIFICATIONS AND FIRE TES T METHODS FOR THE EUROPEAN RAILWAY INDUSTRY
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