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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Toxicity Test Requirements and Performance Criteria for Passenger Railcar Materials

Document Series:
Technical Reports
Author:
  • Federal Railroad Administration
Report Number
DOT/FRA/ORD-21/09
Office
RDI-22
Subject:
Rolling Stock
Keywords:
Railcar, fire performance criteria, toxicity, smoke inhalation, toxic gas, toxicity database rolling stock

Currently, there is no standard for regulating the toxic gas emission in National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 130 or Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 238.103. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Fire Test Procedure (FTP) Annex 1: Part 2 toxicity standard with the 25 kW/m2 non-piloted and piloted exposure was determined in this research to be the most appropriate standard for adoption for use in the U.S. railcar industry. Jensen Hughes, Inc. performed testing on railcar materials with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) E662 and International Standards Organization (ISO) 5659-2. Researchers used the experimental and literature data to compare measurement methods, sampling times, test exposure, and performance criteria. The IMO FTP performance criteria are similar to the 20-minute scaled ERPG-3 criteria and are appropriate for evaluating material fire gas toxicity.


Last updated: Friday, February 26, 2021