Pyrolysis, combustion, and fire spread characteristics of the railway train carriages: A review of development

Fires in the railway trains are prone to cause large numbers of casualties, serious economic losses, and huge negative social impacts. The railway train carriage is a special confined built environment, where the pyrolysis, combustion, and fire spread process are different from those fire accidents in open space. Identifying the fire characteristics of the railway train carriages is the key issue to determine the fire prevention and control strategy. Therefore, this paper attempts to assess and identify the characteristics of pyrolysis, combustion, and fire spread of railway trains based on the exising research. This review documents the pyrolysis and combustion characteristics of single train material and the combustible module, summarizes the heat release rate (HRR) calculation methods and the HRR profile for different types of trains, as well as introduces the research progress in the flame spread and flashover. The main gaps and issues to be solved in terms of the effects of train speed, altitudes, and application of new energy trains are further discussed.