Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Fire Tests of Amtrak Passenger Rail Vehicle Interiors. Final Report. 1978-1983.

Published

Author(s)

Richard D. Peacock, E Braun

Abstract

A series of fire tests was conducted to assess the burning behavior of the interior of passenger rail vehicles. Three types of tests were performed: (1) small-scale laboratory tests to study the flammability and smoke generation characteristics of the individual materials, (2) full-scale calorimeter tests on the seats to determine the rate of heat release from burning seat assemblies, and (3) full-scale tests on mock-ups of the interior of the cars to investigate the potential for fire hard in the fully furnished vehicles. A comparison of the results of the selected small-scale laboratory tests with the full-scale mock-up tests shows that while the small-scale vehicle interior, and the interaction of materials during the full-scale mock-up tests are critically important in predicting the optential for fire inside the vehicle.
Citation
NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) -

Keywords

calorimeters, flame spread, large scale fire tests, interior finishes, passenger vehicles, railroads, smoke, transportation

Citation

Peacock, R. and Braun, E. (1984), Fire Tests of Amtrak Passenger Rail Vehicle Interiors. Final Report. 1978-1983., NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=107165 (Accessed March 29, 2024)
Created May 1, 1984, Updated February 19, 2017