P. M. BRIEFING : Santa Fe Railway Cutting Staff; 450 Non-Union Workers Affected

CHICAGO — Santa Fe Railway announced today that it is cutting its staff by about 450 people, from non-union clerical workers to upper-level management, as part of a plan to streamline operations.

“In order to survive and prosper in today’s transportation environment, it is necessary that we provide high-quality service at competitive prices. We must reduce our ongoing expenses if we are to accomplish that,” Michael R. Haverty, company president, said in a news release.

Haverty said that nearly all of the reductions would be made through voluntary severance and early retirement, “although there will be a limited number of involuntary separations.”

All of the positions being eliminated are non-union jobs throughout the Santa Fe system, spokeswoman Susan Metcalf said.

Santa Fe Railway is a subsidiary of Santa Fe Pacific Corp. It operates about 11,500 miles of mainline freight trackage linking Chicago with California and about 10 other states, mostly in the Southwest.

The railway’s total employment was 19,633 at the beginning of the year.

Metcalf said affected employees were given the option in June of leaving the company through a buyout or early retirement. In the following weeks, most picked one of those options, but several chose neither and were forced to quit, she said.