Tanya Meredith, Sécheron Switzerland, presents the challenges faced by an equipment supplier in the rail sector, where fire safety and smoke limitation standards are very demanding. Sécheron selects materials suppliers who have proven competence in respecting railway materials specifications.
Documentation required from new suppliers include REACH, RoHS, proof that halogen-free, and certification to the EU railway fire safety standards EN 45545. Key challenges are achieving smoke density standards and the absence of an agreed standard for “halogen free”. A further difficulty is to manage the variation of rail and mass transit fire safety standards across the world (USA, Australia and Asia) although the EU standard is tending to be increasingly recognised. For Ms. Meridith, this AMI conference showed the complexity of flame retardant solutions and the high level of innovation in PIN FRs. This confirmed the need for end users (product manufacturers) to understand developments and keep ahead of innovation, in order to enable informed dialogue with material suppliers.
Sécheron www.secheron.com (Sécheron Hasler Group) design and provide high voltage AC/DC electrical components and installations for railway, metro and tramway installations, with 13 production sites worldwide.