Tube Lines, which maintains 100 London Underground stations under a Private-Public Partnership, has approved the use of Draka’s Firetuf Easystrip zero halogen, low smoke, standard category fire alarm and detection cable.  The Draka cable, which was introduced in 2005, was assessed against London Underground’s Engineering Standard 2-01001-002; it complies with BS5839-1 and is manufactured to BS 7629-1.  Firetuf Easystrip is third-party approved by the LPCB [Loss Prevention Certification Board] and the BASEC [British Approvals Service for Cables].

The cable offers superior resistance to kinking, making it almost impossible to damage during installation.  This is because Firetuf Easystrip has what is termed a “filled” sheath that supports the insulated twisted cores during installation flexing, and provides significant additional protection during a fire.  It is suitable for use in both Zone 1 and Zone 2 hazardous areas.  Tests have shown that it is the easiest cable of its type on the market to dress and offers the quickest sheath removal, ensuring that it has the fastest termination time.  Firetuf Easystrip is claimed to be the lightest and smallest diameter cable of its type on the market, capable of the smallest bending radius without deforming the cable.

Firetuf Easystrip is one of an extensive range of Firetuf cables, which includes the Firetuf Connecta modular wiring system that was used by Metronet Rail for the refurbishment of the tunnel lighting on London Underground’s Waterloo & City line.  It also includes Firetufplus Enhanced and Firetuf EMC, both of which are being used extensively at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5.