An innovative rail car procurement specification was developed for bi-level equipment. This specification was developed to fulfill the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA). PRIIA is a congressional mandate to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, state departments of transportation, FRA, and passenger rail car builders and suppliers to develop the next generation of passenger rail equipment for intercity corridor service for speeds up to 125 mph. Technological innovations are to be used to improve safety incrementally, and components are to be standardized to the extent possible to leverage economies of scale to help revitalize the manufacturing base for domestic passenger equipment. This paper focuses on the technical discussions held by a cross section of key industry stakeholders to develop specification language for crash energy management features as an overlay on a fully compliant bi-level car design. The purpose of the paper is to widely disseminate the methodology and process used and to provide background information on the values chosen for individual car crush zone performance.