Public Transportation

Public Transportation - In Important Part of New Mobility

A big challenge these days is to reduce the impact of modern life to the environment. For this, emissions of gases like carbon dioxide have to be reduced. As mobility is a big emitter of these gases, new concepts are required: Developing new technologies, using alternative energy resources and reducing the weight of components.  In addition to new technologies like E-mobility, public transportation is an important factor in achieving our goals without losing the freedom to be mobile all the time. Plastics offer a great freedom of design leading to lower weights and a better comfort for customers.

Since the safe evacuation of public transportation vehicles takes a longer time, strict safety standards have to be fulfilled. AKRO-PLASTIC offers materials which are certified according to the current standards for buses (ECE 118) and trains (EN45545-2, NFPA 130).

Public Transportation

Product Characterisation

UN/ECE R 118 Annex 6, 7 and 8:

Test to Determine the Vertical Burning Rate of Materials in Vehicles of Categories M3, II and III

Regulation No. 118 of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) concerns about the burning behavior and/or properties of the materials used in the construction of buses and city buses. Tests apply to the ignitibility, burning rate and melting behavior. Annex 6 of the Regulation defines the horizontal burning rate of materials and is comparable to the FMVSS 302. All components built in a position deviating from the horizontal by more than 15 °C must be tested in accordance to Annex 8 which defines the vertical burning rate.

A third test is required if the parts are placed above the head of passengers. To prevent using materials building burning drips for these applications, Annex 7 has to be fulfilled. AKRO-PLASTIC offers materials which are certified according to the annexes 6,7 and 8. The materials are based on PA6 and offer reinforcements in the range of 15-30 % glass fiber content.

DIN EN 45545-2: European Railway Standard

The goal of the European Union was to unify the different fire safety standards of every country in the European Union.

The European Railway Standard EN 45545-2 was released in 2013 and is valid since 2016. It defines the requirements in terms of fire behavior of materials and components for railway vehicles. The standard is based on three different pillars: Minimization of the probability of a fire, slowing down the spread of the flames in case of a fire and reducing the emission of toxic gases and smoke.

Not every component has the same influence on the propagation of a fire. For example, a burning seat shell has a bigger impact on available evacuation time than a small closure cap outside of the train. Therefore it should be more resistant to flammability. Because of this it was decided to introduce different Requirement Sets (R) defining the requirements not only by the train but the component itself, too. Some components, for example above mentioned seat shell, have a specified Requirement Set (R6).

Since it is not possible to categorize every component of a train, the term of a non-listed part was introduced. The Requirement Set of a non-listed part is defined by the installation point, the dimensions and weight of the component and the environment. It defines the tests that must be performed to certify the material.

Different Requirement Sets depend on components

Not every type of train can be evacuated in the same time. Due to this fact the requirements for different types of trains must be adjusted. For this, the Hazard Level (HL) has been introduced. The longer the evacuation time, the higher the Hazard Level, the higher the requirements on the materials. The Hazard Level defines the values that must be fulfilled by the tests according to the Requirement Set.

The different requirements call for the right material to be found for each component individually. AKRO-PLASTIC offers materials which are certified according to the different Requirement Sets. Highlighted should be AKROMID® C28 GF 25 FRT. This material is the only compound based on Polyamide fulfilling the strictest requirements according to R1, R6 and R7.