NFPA 130 Standard Test for Fixed Guide Rail Transit and Passenger Rail Systems

EUROLAB, with its state-of-the-art accredited laboratories and expert team, provides precise and fast testing services within the scope of NFPA 130 testing. It includes requirements for train stations, subway stations, trains or subway cars themselves, and the tracks or paths on which these cars travel.

While NFPA 130 covers a wide range of topics, this blog will focus on the unique exit requirements requirements for fixed rail transit and passenger train stations.

The exit evacuation is the section of an exit route between the end of an exit and a safety point. In NFPA 130, the security point can be either the lounge area or a security point outside the building.

To understand how fast passengers can leave the station, the passenger load must be determined. To determine the passenger load, we need to assume that all trains enter the station full of passengers who must get off at the same time, and that there are as many people as a train waiting on the platform to board the train.

Therefore, the passenger load includes both those who get off the train and those who are waiting on the platform. This will give us the worst case scenario where all trains are called back to the station at the same time and have to evacuate both the car and the station.

There is also user load for each platform that needs to be calculated so that each platform can be discharged on time. This number is based on peak passenger numbers, which may often require an analysis to determine peak passenger statistics.

Similar to the passenger load at the station, the passenger load on the platform must assume that a full train enters the station and leaves the entire train load with another train load waiting on the platform.

There are two main figures to consider when looking at evacuation times. The first is the platform evacuation time, which should be less than 4 minutes. The second is the station evacuation time, during which the passenger load must reach a safety point in under 6 minutes.

EUROLAB assists manufacturers with NFPA 130 test compliance. Our test experts, with their professional working mission and principles, provide you, our manufacturers and suppliers, the best service and controlled testing process in our laboratories. Thanks to these services, businesses receive more effective, high-performance and quality testing services and provide safe, fast and uninterrupted service to their customers.