Assessing and Mitigating Electrical Fires on Transit Vehicles

Transit vehicle fires have safety implications for passengers and employees as well as liability implications for manufacturers, suppliers, and operators. The majority of electrical/arcing fire events lead to a total burn out/loss of the vehicle or serious smoke incidents. Fuses and circuit breakers are not designed for this specific failure mode and traditional fire detection and suppression methods have not proven effective. The problem is further complicated by varying engine compartment configurations, equipment layout within compartments, routing of cables, and continuous changes to vehicles to improve environmental impact, weight, and cost. Although there are some technologies and practices that may prove beneficial or perhaps even significantly reduce the frequency and severity of arcing events, original equipment manufacturers and operators are reluctant to implement such technologies and practices due partially to past difficulties and costs. Some preliminary work has been undertaken to determine methods to produce repeatable failure modes for testing of technologies, and efforts related to fire detection in heavy-duty vehicles are currently under way. While the referenced efforts do not specifically test for arcing conditions, the testing standards could be modified to support arcing conditions. Research is needed to avoid unnecessary interruption of revenue service, passenger injury, and expenditure of operating and capital funds for buses and rail passenger vehicles. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to develop guidance for assessing and mitigating electrical fires on transit vehicles. Accomplishment of the project objective will require at least the following tasks.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4117
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Research complete. Published as TCRP Research Report 229: Assessing and Mitigating Electrical Fires on Transit Vehicles (2021). Supplemental to the report is a Presentation describing details of the project.

Language

• English

Project

• Funding: $300,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  C-23

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Transit Cooperative Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20001

  Federal Transit Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  Transit Resource Ctr -TRC Engineering Services LLC

  ,    
• Principal Investigators:

  Malec, Ralph

• Start Date: 20170105
• Expected Completion Date: 20201231
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Buses; Electrical systems; Fire prevention; Passenger cars; Rail transit; Vehicle fires
• Subject Areas: Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01941897
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: C-23
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Jan 7 2025 6:17PM