Metro Magazine

SEP-OCT 2014

Magazine serving the bus and rail transit & motorcoach operations since 1904

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90 < m ETRO m AGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014 metro-magazine.com (dry chemical, water-based, aerosols, gaseous) are pursuing the "P" mark. Several systems have al- ready been approved or are in the fnal stages of approval. Adoption of the standard is becom- ing more common around the globe, and U.S. transit operators are among the frst to actively include the "P" mark in their procurement specifcations. Te test method is comprised of the following parts: • Fi r e Te s t i n g : T h e f i re t e s t was commissioned by the Swedish Ac- cident Investigation Authority (SAIA). Te reason for fre was that gas ignited oil in the engine compartment. As part of the investigation, a full-scale recon- struction of the bus fre was carried out to establish the cause of ignition and answer the question of why the fre sup- pression system did not manage to ex- tinguish the fre, see Figure 3. Te inves- tigation led to a number of conclusions and recommendations from the SAIA to the Swedish Civil Contingencies and the Swedish Transport Agency in- dicating a pressing need to: • Develop procedures for first re- sponders how to approach CNG bus fres. • Establish requirements for fixed fre suppression systems in engine compartments. • Require function control of fire suppression system in conjunc- tion with the regular vehicle in- spection. • Extended and customized pro- fessional driver training for bus drivers with exercises in fre safe- ty and evacuation. BUS ENGINE FIRE SUPPRESSION STANDARDS/CERTIFICATION SP Fire Research is leading the way for more efective fre suppression sys- tems by establishing a certification process (SPCR183) and test method (SP test Method 4912) for testing fre suppression systems against known fre threats and environmental condi- tions specific to bus engine environ- ments. Successful systems are then is- sued a certifcate and allowed to "P" mark their components, see Figure 4. More in- formation can be obtained from www. sp.se/safebus/certifed. Several fre tests conducted on oper- ational buses have confrmed the pass/ fail criteria used in the certification demonstrates a high level of protection. More than 20 various types of systems BUS FIRES Fig.4: The P-mark is a voluntary certifcation/ quality mark for the industry for verifying and securing a good level of quality for fre suppression systems in engine compartments of buses and coaches.

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