PVC Commercial Flooring Solutions for Bus and Subway Train

Although buses and subways are both part of the public transportation sector, they have different requirements for flooring materials. As a pvc flooring oem supplier, our factory can customize commercial PVC flooring to meet the needs of various scenarios. Below, we will explain our flooring solutions for transportation.

Scenario Analysis

Subway systems are characterized by extremely high passenger volumes, long operating hours, and stable loads. In major cities like Beijing's Line 4, busy routes see over one million passengers daily, with train floors enduring over 500,000 foot impacts per day. Such scenarios require flooring materials with extremely high abrasion resistance and structural stability. Typically, homogeneous through-color PVC flooring with a thickness of 2.0mm or above is selected, with an abrasion layer thickness of up to 0.9mm, far exceeding ordinary commercial standards.

Bus scenarios present unique challenges such as enclosed spaces, frequent vibrations, and significant start-stop impacts. Continuous vibrations during vehicle operation can cause fatigue failure of ordinary floor adhesive layers. Therefore, Vinyl sheet flooring used in buses must employ elastic bonding, with a mesh bonding structure to absorb vibration energy. Additionally, buses experience significant fluctuations in passenger load, requiring the flooring to repeatedly switch between full-load and empty-load states, imposing special demands on the material's fatigue resistance.

Common features:

Safety performance: B1-grade fire resistance and flame retardancy, slip resistance performance meeting R9 grade or above under the EN 51130 standard.

Ease of maintenance: Capable of quickly cleaning common stains such as juice and oil residues.

Environmental friendliness: Complies with limits on harmful substances, with TVOC emissions below 10 μg/m³, and free of formaldehyde and heavy metals.

Based on these standard requirements, the technical parameters of the commercial PVC flooring we produce fully comply with the requirements.

Some technical parameters for reference:

Product Type Selection

Commercial PVC flooring types used in public transportation are primarily divided into homogeneous and multi-layer composite types.

Homogeneous PVC flooring is produced using 100% pure PVC raw materials, with a uniform and consistent overall structure, making it particularly suitable for high-traffic areas such as subways.

Multi-layer composite PVC flooring features a composite structure comprising UV coating, wear-resistant layer, printed layer, and stabilizing layer, with a thickness typically ranging from 1.0 to 4.5 mm. It offers better decorative appeal and cost advantages, making it suitable for scenarios with strict weight control requirements, such as buses. Through optimized interlayer structure design, it achieves a wear-resistant layer thickness of 0.3 mm or more while maintaining a total weight of 2,800 g/m².

Purchasing decision recommendations

When purchasing PVC flooring, establish an evaluation system prioritizing performance and lifecycle costs to avoid solely pursuing low prices.

Consider the following dimensions comprehensively:

Verify the authenticity of product test reports, focusing on key indicators such as fire resistance rating (GB 8624-2012 B1 grade), slip resistance coefficient (EN 51130 R9 or higher), and TVOC emissions (<10 μg/m³);

Secondly, assess the manufacturer's experience in public transportation projects, prioritizing brands with a history of supplying to subway or bus groups.

It is recommended to include on-site inspections in the procurement process, with a focus on the actual usage conditions of already installed projects.

For bulk procurement projects, the “sample section testing” model can be adopted, where a small-scale trial is conducted on selected vehicle models or stations, followed by full-scale implementation after 3-6 months of actual verification.

In summary, the selection of public transportation PVC flooring not only affects initial investment but also impacts long-term operational safety and cost-effectiveness. We are willing to provide customized product solutions. Please feel free to leave a message for any inquiries!