Union Pacific
Union Pacific has announced that it will cut 250 general employees and furlough 450 mechanics as part of its organizational changes. A freight train passes diagonally-shifted layers of earth as it crosses the San Andreas Rift Zone on May 15, 2008 in San Bernardino, California. Getty Images/David McNew

As part of an organizational change, Union Pacific Railroad will cut 250 employees and furlough another 450. The announcement came Tuesday, and, according to the company, affects 60 percent of the workforce in Omaha, Nebraska.

The 250 employees that will lose their jobs are part of Union Pacific’s general workforce while the furloughs impact the company’s mechanics, reports The World-Herald. The reduction in employees, according to Union Pacific, is a result of a cut back of the total number of locomotives in operation. The company said 1,000 locomotives have been idled to date.

The announcement is part of a long-term plan for Union Pacific, which it calls “Unified Plan 2020.” The new initiative will make organizational changes to the company, including the interaction between different departments within. Union Pacific said the Unified Plan 2020 is part of an effort to “boost efficiency and productivity.”

In a statement, the company said the new “initiatives also are allowing the company to better compete in our marketplace against other railroads and freight transportation modes.” Union Pacific added its memo that “more organizational and operating changes are still to come.”

The cutback comes several months after the company announced workforce reductions in October, cutting approximately 475 employees and eliminating an additional 200 contract positions, WOWT an NBC affiliate in Omaha, reported.

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