DIN Publishes New Safety Standard for Railway Vehicles

September 16, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

The standard applies to locomotives and coaches used in all types of passenger trains, subways, light railways and trams.
 
It contains railway vehicle design requirements that will help minimize the consequences of a collision accident.

The requirements apply to the vehicle body and any mechanical elements directly associated with it that may be used to absorb energy in a collision, such as couplers and buffing systems.

The new standard supplements and is compatible with DIN EN 12663, Railway applications - Structural requirements for railway vehicle bodies.

DIN EN 15227 was prepared under a European Commission mandate and thus defines essential requirements in accordance with European directives, such as Directive 96/48/EC on the interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system.

Aspects of safe design were developed on the basis of the most common types of collision that cause injuries and fatalities - collisions with another train or with objects or animals on the track - and the risks involved.

These design measures are intended as a last means of protection in that they will help prevent accidents or at least reduce their consequences, even when all other possibilities of preventing an accident have failed.

Passengers are protected primarily by maintaining structural integrity in case of an accident, with the structure that forms the "survival spaces" defined in the standard remaining intact even during a full collapse sequence.

Source: Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V.