ISO/TR 5914:2024
(Main)Railway applications — Rolling stock — Interior passive safety
Railway applications — Rolling stock — Interior passive safety
This document reports worldwide best practice to minimize the risk of death and injury to occupants of rail vehicles in the event of a collision or derailment. This document investigates recent interior designs for passenger areas in heavy rail vehicles (e.g. coaches, fixed units, trainsets), including refurbished interiors.
Applications ferroviaires — Matériel roulant — Sécurité passive des aménagements intérieurs
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
Technical
Report
ISO/TR 5914
First edition
Railway applications — Rolling
2024-12
stock — Interior passive safety
Applications ferroviaires — Matériel roulant — Sécurité passive
des aménagements intérieurs
Reference number
© ISO 2024
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ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Strategic objectives . 4
4.1 Road transport comparison . .4
4.2 Rail context .5
4.3 Structural passive safety .5
4.4 Minimization of injury .6
4.5 Interior passive safety principles .6
4.5.1 General design considerations .6
4.5.2 Component design .7
5 Benefits of interior passive safety in train collisions . 7
6 Examples of rail vehicle interior structural design criteria . 7
6.1 Global standards for vehicle structural integrity .7
6.2 Standards for interior equipment .8
6.3 Material selection for rail vehicle interiors.9
6.4 Structural energy absorption and collapse: UK practice from GMRT2100 .10
6.5 Secondary impact assessment .10
6.5.1 Considerations for persons with reduced mobility .10
6.5.2 Secondary impact principles .11
6.5.3 Secondary impact review .11
6.5.4 Secondary impact design scenarios . 12
6.5.5 Containment and compartmentalization . 12
6.5.6 Minor impacts with interior features . 13
6.6 Geometric criteria . 13
6.6.1 Standards with geometric requirements . 13
6.6.2 Geometric principles . 13
6.7 Computer simulations, calculations and testing .14
6.8 Possible re-use of existing component test results . 15
6.9 Open bay seating .16
Annex A (informative) Interior passive safety experience from UK and US . 17
Annex B (informative) Accident statistics .33
Annex C (informative) Costs and potential benefits of interior passive safety, based on UK
practices . 47
Annex D (informative) Considerations for persons with reduced mobility .54
Annex E (informative) Example abbreviated injury scale .57
Bibliography .58
iii
Foreword
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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 269, Railway applications, Subcommittee SC 2,
Rolling stock.
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iv
Introduction
It is generally accepted that avoiding collisions is a key operating principle of railway systems. This can be
achieved, for example, by dedicated lines, eliminating level crossings and providing sophisticated control
(signalling) systems.
The safety performance of railways has improved significantly in recent years, to the extent that train
crashes, derailments and overturning are now very rare events. However, this document includes evidence
which suggests that, despite advancements in train control and other active safety measures, these incidents
will continue to occur, albeit at a much-reduced rate of incidence. Collisions and derailments can still occur
due to incidents such as infrastructure failures, landslides or incursions from road traffic.
Railway administrations in different countries have conducted extensive accident investigations and
research into collision events. These and other countries have reached consensus that there is benefit in
managing collision energy and vehicle dynamics in collision conditions. This is achieved by designing rail
vehicle structures to have better collision performance in certain prescribed conditions; such vehicles are
said to have a “crashworthy structural design”.
Many countries have static structural standards; these are complemented (e.g. in Europe and North America)
with structural crashworthiness standards. The aims of crashworthy structural designs are generally to:
— reduce the risk of vehicles overriding;
— absorb collision energy in a controlled manner;
— maintain survival space and structural integrity of the occupied areas;
— limit the car body deceleration;
— reduce the risk of derailment;
— limit the consequences of hitting an obstruction on the track.
Some countries have investigated the effect of train crashes on passengers in rail vehicles, aiming to establish
a causal link between occupant fatalities or injuries and the design and layout of train interior fixtures,
such as seats, tables, luggage racks, stanchions and interior glazing. These investigations culminated in the
modelling and testing of deceleration events, as prescribed for the crashworthy structural design, to apply
measures to the design of rail vehicle interiors which provide a favourable environment for passengers and
staff in these conditions. These measures are collectively considered as interior passive safety and will aid:
— containment;
— compartmentalization;
— reducing and controlling the risk of injuries in secondary impacts that occupants can experience in train
crashes and derailments, by incorporating energy absorption in seats and tables and non-aggressive
shapes for interior equipment (tables, grab poles, seats, luggage racks).
Specifically, the aim of interior passive safety is to reduce injuries and injury severity to limits which are
not life threatening, nor a threat to mobility or cognitive function. However, it is recognized that in the
catastrophic and chaotic events associated with vehicle collisions, derailments and overturning, passenger
injuries will still occur.
Interior passive safety principles are based on extensive research (e.g. the European Union (EU)-funded
SafeInteriors research project (2006–2010), and work conducted by the US Department of Transportation
(DoT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center).
This research has concluded that the aims of preventing occupant fatalities, and reducing the number and
severity of injuries, are best achieved through combining vehicle structural crashworthiness with interior
passive safety.
v
Application of the principles of interior passive safety can also be expected to reduce the consequences of
minor incidents
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