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ASHRAE Guideline Project Committee 23 (GPC 23)

This guideline was developed in response to a need expressed within the passenger rail vehicle industry to adopt a more consistent approach to the design and application of heating ventilating and air conditioning systems in passenger rail vehicles that can be used as a basis for future designs. The need for such a effort evolved from informal discussions within the community of rail vehicle industry’s operating, supply and technical support members as well as in several different professional committees dealing with passenger rail vehicle issues including APTA (American Public Transit Association), ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and RTVISC (Rail Transit Vehicle Interface Standards Committee [Division of IEEE]).

Current inconsistent design approaches and sometimes widely varying requirements for similar applications has resulted in minimal standardization, excessive development efforts required for similar equipment and the resulting inefficiency and disproportionately high cost of equipment.In an attempt to attain an approach that would address the concerns of all interested parties, participation was solicited from different facets of the industry including operating authorities, supply industry, labor, government regulatory authorities and the industry consulting community.Based on the responses of persons and entities expressing interest in participation in this effort is was further agreed to form an ASHRAE Guideline Project Committee (GPC) under the supervision of ASHRAE Technical Committee (TC) 9.3, Transportation Air Conditioning to perform this task.

This website is intended to convey what the GPC-23 Committee has jointly determined through experience and successful practice, to be technically appropriate and reasonable design, application and testing guidelines for this equipment.

This Project Committee is responsible for developing an ASHRAE guideline with the following purpose and scope:

 

1. PURPOSE:

To establish recommended design and application guidelines necessary to achieve an acceptable level of performance and safety for heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment used on rail passenger vehicles operating in the unique and demanding environment of rail transportation systems.

2. SCOPE:

This guideline covers rail passenger vehicles used in regularly scheduled public transportation service. The guideline will address environmental conditions, equipment configurations, air filtration, temperature and humidity controls, determination and verification of heating and cooling capacity, ventilation standards, passenger comfort criteria, materials, packaging, noise, vibration and shock, refrigerant selection, energy efficiency, corrosion protection, voltage and electrical requirements, power supply and electromagnetic interference.