Abstract: This paper studied the fire hazard of rail vehicle and the technical standard system of fire prevention at home and abroad, and offered suggestions on standards and experiments. Based on systematical thinking and the first principles, the vehicle fire system and fire hazard were introduced, and the objects, scale levels, and corresponding fire hazard categories of vehicle fire experiments were summarized. In accordance with the fire scale levels and hazard categories, the main fire protection standards and test method standards for vehicles at home and abroad were analyzed and presented. The applicability, relevance, and standard suggestions of the test standards to the real fire scenarios were explored. In the subsequent process of formulating and revising standards, it is recommended that methods such as material non-combustibility and combustion calorific value be regarded as the preferred indicators, and methods like the flash point and ignition point of liquids, high-temperature oxygen index, high-speed gas oxygen index, ignitability with a radiant heat source, and the corrosiveness of smoke be taken into consideration. For component-level fire protection, attention should be focused on tests such as full-scale room fire test and SBI test, and special researches should be conducted on the structural fire resistance of hydrogen energy and lithium battery systems for vehicles. Through the coupling verification of experiments at all levels and numerical simulation methods, the research on full-scale vehicle fire test methods and standards in real dynamic scenarios should be advanced.

Key words: rail vehicle, fire safety standard, fire system, scale classification, fire hazard