The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center compared and contrasted U.S. fire safety regulations and standards on rolling stock with the European Union, Japan, and China. The major areas of study were fire safety analysis, materials performance standards, toxicity performance standards, fire detection and suppression, as well as particular elements of international fire safety standards and regulations that might be valuable and worthy of analysis by the U.S. The varying international regulatory approaches give insight as to ways in which the U.S. might augment its own regulations and standards as well as demonstrate the ways in which international rolling stock might be acquired and found suitable on U.S. railways.