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eral Regulations) to improve the identification of
cracks in rail joint bars;
(B) instruct Administration track inspec-
tors to obtain copies of the most recent contin-
uous welded rail programs of each railroad with-
in the inspectors’ areas of responsibility and re-
quire that inspectors use those programs when
conducting track inspections; and
(C) establish a program to review contin-
uous welded rail joint bar inspection data from
railroads and Administration track inspectors
periodically.
(2) Whenever the Administration determines that
it is necessary or appropriate the Administration
may require railroads to increase the frequency of in-
spection, or improve the methods of inspection, of
joint bars in continuous welded rail.
(b) TANK CAR STANDARDS.—The Federal Railroad
Administration shall—
(1) validate a predictive model to quantify the
relevant dynamic forces acting on railroad tank cars
under accident conditions within 1 year after the date
of enactment of this Act; and
(2) initiate a rulemaking to develop and imple-
ment appropriate design standards for pressurized
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tank cars within 18 months after the date of enact-
ment of this Act.
(c) OLDER TANK CAR IMPACT RESISTANCE ANALYSIS
AND REPORT.—Within 1 year after the date of enactment
of this Act the Federal Railroad Administration shall con-
duct a comprehensive analysis to determine the impact re-
sistance of the steels in the shells of pressure tank cars con-
structed before 1989. Within 6 months after completing that
analysis the Administration shall—
(1) establish a program to rank those cars ac-
cording to their risk of catastrophic fracture and sep-
aration;
(2) implement measures to eliminate or mitigate
this risk; and
(3) transmit a report to the Senate Committee
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the
House of Representatives Committee on Transpor-
tation and Infrastructure setting forth the measures
implemented.
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are
authorized to be appropriated to the Federal Railroad Ad-
ministration $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 to carry out
this section, such sums to remain available until expended.
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SEC. 7370. HAZARDOUS MATERIALS COOPERATIVE RE-
SEARCH PROGRAM.
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to the Secretary of Transportation $2,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009 to develop and ad-
minister a hazardous materials cooperative research pro-
gram.
(b) GOVERNANCE.—The Secretary of Transportation
shall establish an independent governing board to select
projects and studies to be carried out under the hazardous
materials cooperative research program. The Board shall be
comprised of one voting representative from the following:
(1) The Federal Aviation Administration.
(2) The Federal Motor Carrier Administration.
(3) The Federal Transit Administration.
(4) The Federal Railroad Administration.
(5) The Maritime Administration.
(6) The Research and Innovative Technology Ad-
ministration.
(7) The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safe-
ty Administration.
(8) The Department of Homeland Security.
(9) The Department of Energy.
(10) The Environmental Protection Agency.
(11) A State department of transportation.
(12) A State emergency management agency.
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(13) A nonprofit organization representing emer-
gency responders.
(14) A hazmat employer.
(15) A nonprofit organization representing
hazmat employees.
(16) A hazardous materials shipper.
(17) A hazardous materials manufacturer.
(18) An organization representing the hazardous
materials manufacturing industry.
(19) A research university or research institu-
tion.
(20) Additional representatives as the Secretary
considers appropriate.
(c) RESEARCH STUDIES.—Under the cooperative re-
search program, the governing board shall select cooperative
research studies of hazardous materials transportation that
are cross-cutting in nature and that consider issues not ade-
quately addressed by existing Federal or private sector re-
search programs. Priority shall be given to research studies
that will yield results immediately applicable to risk anal-
ysis and mitigation or that will strengthen the ability of
first responders to respond to incidents and accidents in-
volving transportation of hazardous materials.
(d) SPECIAL RULES REGARDING STUDIES.—
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(1) SAFETY AND SECURITY.—The purpose of at
least one of the studies to be conducted under the co-
operative research program shall be—
(A) to provide an assessment of opportuni-
ties for integrating and supplementing safety
and security measures for hazardous materials
transportation;
(B) to identify areas where safety and secu-
rity measures currently utilized in the transpor-
tation of hazardous materials conflict or com-
plement one another;
(C) to outline a comprehensive approach to
hazardous materials transportation that effec-
tively incorporates safety and security proce-
dures;
(D) to produce a model of reasonable State
and local risk response and management plans
that effectively address safety and security of
hazardous materials transportation; and
(E) to provide an assessment of the need
and feasibility of substituting less lethal sub-
stances than toxic inhalation hazards in the
manufacturing process.
(2) PERFORMANCE
DATA
FOR
BULK
CON-
TAINERS.—The purpose of at least one of the studies
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to be conducted under the research program shall be
to provide—
(A) an analysis of, and recommendations
for, the design and funding of a nationwide sys-
tem capable of collecting and analyzing perform-
ance data from bulk containers involved in
transportation accidents; and
(B) recommendations that can be used to
develop conditional release probabilities for var-
ious container design specifications (by transport
mode).
(3) PACKAGING REQUIREMENTS.—The purpose of
at least one of the studies to be conducted under the
research program shall be to provide an analysis of
recommendations on appropriate packaging require-
ments for those hazardous materials that are most fre-
quently involved in release incidents.
(4) ROUTING.—The purpose of at least one of the
studies to be conducted under the research program
shall be to identify the components that could com-
prise a model of risk and consequence analysis in rail
and highway transportation and that can be used to
facilitate decisionmaking regarding the routing of
hazardous materials shipments and the development
of regulations regarding mandatory routing decisions.