Materials compliant with the EN45545-2 European railway standard

EN45545 is a fire-prevention standard imposing regulations on train cars in European rail networks.

The outbreak of fire can lead to mass tragedy in any setting, but railways and other public transit facilities face the specific additional risk of fires in vehicles passing through tunnels, underground passageways, or other situations in which passengers cannot easily evacuate. In such cases, the essential imperative is to slow the spread of fires as much as possible until passengers can safely exit the vehicle—a goal that imposes strict fire-safety standards on all design materials.

EN45545 considers a range of hazard levels (HL1, HL2, HL3)* and specifies fire-prevention conditions to be maintained by moving rail cars as part of a European legal framework. The first version of the standard, issued in 2013, mandated compliance for railways within Europe; in subsequent years, material requirements corresponding to the standard have gradually begun to take root in Asia as well.

The EN45545 standard is divided into 7 parts, listed below. Requirements for materials and components are specified in the second part, EN45545-2.

• EN-45545-1：Overview
• EN-45545-2：Requirements for fire behavior of materials and components
• EN-45545-3：Fire resistance requirements for fire barriers
• EN-45545-4：Fire safety requirements for rolling stock design
• EN-45545-5：Fire safety requirements for electrical equipment
• EN-45545-6：Fire control and management systems
• EN-45545-7：Fire safety requirements for flammable liquid and flammable gas installations

*Hazard levels describe different magnitudes of risk posed by the outbreak of fire in a rail car based on the type and design category of the rail car and the feasibility of evacuating passengers in its current state of operation. There are three hazard levels—HL1, HL2, and HL3, with HL3 the most severe—and each hazard level also imposes specific rigorous requirements on design materials.