TOPEKA, Kan. — Topeka city leaders say they will fight to prevent high-paying railroad jobs from leaving the city, the Associated Press reported.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. is studying whether the railroad giant should consolidate its two locomotive shops. The company has about 330 employees in Topeka to maintain and repair the railroad’s fleet, and about 380 in Burlington, Iowa.
Both shops were operating at 55 percent capacity, according to a monthly newsletter published by BNSF for Topeka employees.
“We’re going to be very aggressive,” said Doug Kinsinger, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce. “These are, in our opinion, good quality jobs that we want to retain.”
The shops could come to Topeka, railroad spokesman Steve Forsberg said, but Topeka Mayor Butch Felker said he has been been getting different vibrations.
“Basically, we’re the long shot,” Felker said. “I think everyone’s known that for a long time,” he said. Forsberg said the railroad is studying the redundant roles of the Topeka and Burlington shops.
“It’s a natural question that’s been begging to be answered since the merger” in 1995 between Burlington Northern and Santa Fe, he said.
Since then, Topeka’s work force has been reduced significantly. In the past 15 months BNSF has cut, moved or furloughed 250 employees from its Topeka shops, representing about $9.8 million in payroll. Shop employees earn about $19 an hour.
The study’s results could be available by the end of the year. It is unclear how fast a consolidation would take place, if one were ordered, Forsberg said.
“We’re not ready to talk about that extensively because it would be just speculation at this point,” he said.
Felker said the Topeka shops were “antiquated,” although they have a big rail yard capable of moving a lot of equipment in and out.
He said BNSF has made an issue of the city’s proximity to the transcontinental line from Chicago to Los Angeles, on which most of the company’s freight moves. The line runs about 50 miles south of the city, through Ottawa and Emporia.
Burlington is within a few miles of the main line.
Forsberg, however, said proximity to the transcontinental line has never been an issue in talks of consolidation, simply because neither city is on the line.
Topeka is likely to find itself in what amounts to a bidding war with Burlington. BNSF is expected to approach officials from both cities with the study’s results.
Felker said city leaders are working with the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce to put together an incentive deal to keep BNSF’s shops in Topeka.
“We’ll be ready,” Felker said.