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Norfolk Southern plans to close its heavy-repair locomotive shop in Roanoke, Va., in May and transfer the work done there to Altoona's Juniata Locomotive Shop.
The company will offer the 85 mechanical employees in Roanoke the opportunity to transfer here, where about 560 are employed, according to a news release from the company and a local worker on Tuesday.
That could mean an opportunity for reinstatement for some of the 245 employees furloughed here last year if there are Roanoke workers who decline to be transferred, according to local union members.
"I feel bad for the people in Roanoke," said State Rep. Lou Schmitt. "(But it's) probably some good fortune for us."
Norfolk is closing the Roanoke shop because of a 48 percent decline in coal tonnage since 2008 -- with further declines expected -- coupled with a 22 percent reduction in the size of the company's locomotive fleet since 2018, according to the news release.
"As NS continues to evaluate its operations and network, the company determined it could no longer support two separate heavy-repair locomotive facilities," the news release stated. "Norfolk Southern determined that the most appropriate location on its network for its major locomotive facility is the Juniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona, Pennsylvania."
The company may have chosen Juniata because the local shop is capable of rebuilding locomotives "from scratch," said Steve Plazek, president of the Transport Workers Union local, representing carmen in Juniata and three Pennsylvania rail yards.
"I don't think they have quite the capability" at Roanoke, Plazek said.
The capability in Altoona represents both the facility and the workforce -- which has "a lot of talent," Plazek said.
Norfolk also operates a 3-year-old locomotive repair facility in Chicago, with a capacity of 25 craft workers, according to a news release published by Norfolk at the time that facility opened.
In addition, there are many shops where light "running" repairs like replacement of headlights or refilling of sand and water compartments take place, said Dan Dorsch, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at Juniata.
The furloughs at Juniata last year resulted from Norfolk's move to Precision Scheduled Railroading, a program that minimizes idle time, handling and distances traveled by railcars while maximizing the size and speed of trains, officials and observers have said.
It's not certain whether PSR has finished shrinking the locomotive fleet, according to Plazek.
The roster of workers who can transfer from Virginia after the Roanoke closure in mid-May comprises 26 machinists, 24 electricians, 21 sheet metal workers, 10 boilermakers and four laborers, Plazek said.
The workers who transfer will be entitled to relocation benefits, according to the news release.
The company is eliminating 19 clerical positions at the Roanoke shop and is closing its Distribution Center in Roanoke, according to the news release.
"This difficult but necessary decision reflects the importance of ensuring the company maintains the right mix of people and facilities in the right locations," the news release stated.
Even after the cuts, Norfolk will retain more than 650 employees in the Roanoke Valley, where it has been active since about 1890, according to the news release.
There will be major uncertainty until it's known how many of the Roanoke workers decide to accept transfers, Dorsch said.
That uncertainty also includes how many former Juniata workers may be willing to return, if they get the opportunity.
"A lot have moved on and found work elsewhere," Dorsch said.
The closing of the Roanoke shop would seem to help secure the future for the shop in Juniata.
"I sure hope so," Dorsch said.
An employee of the local shop, however, is mistrustful of Tuesday's move by the company.
Theoretically at least, the workers from Roanoke could displace workers of lesser seniority who are currently employed at Juniata, such that there would be no additional employees added here, said the employee, who added that morale is low and tension is high in the local shop in recent times.
Dorsch is sympathetic for the Roanoke workers.
"If the shoe were on the other foot, I'd be packing up and heading to Virginia," he said. "After 27 years, that would be very hard."
Unfortunate as it is for Roanoke, the closing of that city's shop can be "a major plus" for Altoona, especially given that this area has lost more than 700 "family-sustaining" jobs in recent times, said Bob Kutz, president of the Blair-Bedford Central Labor Council.
Schmitt is cautious about the latest development.
"If it's good news for the local shops, great," he said. "But it doesn't give me a lot of confidence, in that the railroad pulled out of a city it's been in for 130 years."