The Teamsters Union is still reviewing the rules, issued Friday, but so far has determined that the proposals are inadequate.

"The White House has failed again to recognize that the true eyes and ears of the rail system are its employees," said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. "Our members are working on the rails night and day. They know about the security lapses on the rails, yet the railroads refuse to provide quality training for them in preparation for emergencies."

The proposed rules highlight the dangerous cargo transported by freight rail, but there is nothing in them that would compel a rail corporation to provide effective emergency situation training for employees. The thousands of miles of tracks throughout the country are wide open for a terrorist attack or act of sabotage. The security of the public and rail employees is at risk.

"We call on the Bush administration and its TSA to mandate emergency situation training for the thousands of rail employees on the job every day," said John Murphy, Director of the Teamsters Rail Conference. "And we call on them to create adequate employee protections so that those employees reporting safety and security breakdowns will not face retaliation."