Innovative Emergency Egress Windows for Rail Passenger Cars

This document is a SBIR Phase II proposal regarding an emergency egress window for rail passenger cars. The technical approach presented here is a result of a successful demonstration of an emergency egress window concept during the previous Phase I program. Currently available egress windows suffer from two basic problems: All require that a large amount of gasket material be removed by passengers prior to freeing the glass and all force the passenger to handle a large pane of glass actuating the release mechanism. The freed glass would then fall into the interior of the passenger car and possibly on the passenger. Pulling several feet of gasket material could be problematical during a tumultuous accident, especially with a passenger car falling on its side.