EN 45545 Fire Protection Tests on Railway Vehicles

The EN 45545 standard, which is a European Standard, regulates the reaction to fire performance requirements for materials and products used in railway vehicles and fire protection requirements in railway vehicles and offers a number of test methods. Published at the beginning of 2009, this standard includes 7 sections.

Part of the EN45545 regulation describes a set of test methods for the evaluation of materials to be used in trains. These fire tests check the performance of a substance along the axes of flame propagation and the toxicity of the fumes produced. The fire behavior of a material in various fire tests determines which hazard levels it is suitable for. Among them, the most important test is the heat release of a material. This test shows how flammable a substance is and determines its possible contribution to the spread of fire. During this test, the material is first exposed to a radiant heat source which ignites it. The heat produced during combustion is recorded as the average heat emission rate and the maximum average heat emission rate. Threshold maximum average heat emission values ​​are used to decide which materials are suitable for each hazard level.

Manufacturers apply the following common solutions to meet the requirements of the EN 45545 standard:

• Using polyester resins that swell with flame retardant fillers. These coatings char when exposed to flame and retard flame propagation. However, this application is somewhat costly and a thicker layer is required to achieve the required fire safety performance.
• Polyester resins filled with flame retardants are also an option. However, filled resins are difficult to process in automated production processes due to precipitation, uneven filler distribution and voids in the end.
• Another solution is to use phenolic resins for composite materials. In recent years, the highest performance option for fire safety uses phenolics. These are materials that reliably resist ignition, have an extremely low flame spread and produce minimal smoke and toxic emissions.

By using phenolics, a fire resistant system is obtained without the need for additional fire retardants or fillers. This also meets current fire safety regulations and is likely to comply with the EN 45545 standard.

The aforementioned standard has been published by the Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) under the main heading of "Railway applications - Fire protection in railway vehicles" with the following subheadings:

• TS EN 45545-1 Part 1: General
• TS EN 45545-2 Part 2: Requirements for fire behavior of materials and components
• TS EN 45545-3 Part 3: Fire resistance requirements for fire barriers
• TS EN 45545-4 Part 4: Fire safety requirements for the design of rolling stock
• TS EN 45545-5+A1 Part 5: Fire safety requirements for electrical equipment including trolleybus, guided bus and magnetic levitation vehicle tracking
• TS EN 45545-6 Part 6: Fire control and management systems
• TS EN 45545-7 Part 7: Fire safety requirements for flammable liquid and flammable gas installations

The precautions and requirements set out in the different parts of the EN 45545 standard are intended to protect passengers and personnel in railway vehicles in the event of a fire. This standard describes fire protection measures for railway vehicles and verification methods for these measures and is based on the following measures for the protection of passengers and personnel:

• Preventing fires caused by technical failures and equipment design or vehicle layout
• Minimizing the possibility of ignition of materials attached to railway vehicles due to accidents or vandalism
• Detecting a fire if it occurs
• Limiting the spread of fire by operational categories of materials and containment measures
• Minimizing the effects of fire on passengers or personnel in terms of heat, smoke and toxic gases through the properties of materials fitted to railway vehicles
• Controlling and managing a fire through fire detection, suppression or emergency shutdown
• Ensuring that passengers and personnel evacuate the rail vehicle and reach a safe place in the event of a fire on board

The EN 45545 standard describes the measures to be taken in the design of vehicles in the context of infrastructure. It is not within the scope of the EN 45545 standard to describe measures that ensure the protection of vehicles in the event of a fire beyond what is necessary to fulfill the purpose of protecting passengers and personnel.

Our organization provides fire protection test services on railway vehicles within the scope of EN 45545 standard, within the framework of national and international standards, with its trained and expert staff and advanced technological equipment, among numerous test, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies.