Feb. 13--FreightCar America Inc. is making deep jobs cuts companywide, including as much as 20 percent of its work force remaining in Johnstown.

According to a source, the company has during the past month cut about a dozen employees at its administrative offices on Johns Street in downtown Johnstown. At last report, the company employed about 50 at that office.

FreightCar officials did not respond to repeated telephone calls and e-mail messages on Thursday.

The local layoffs are only a small portion of the cuts being made by the company. The News-Gazette of Champaign, Ill., on Thursday reported that the company has informed state officials there that it will furlough 195 of the 252 employees at its Danville, Ill., plant beginning Monday.

In addition, numerous media outlets last month reported that FreightCar has given notice to the commonwealth of Virginia that it will lay off 120 workers at its Roanoke, Va., facility.

Last year, the company closed its Johnstown facility in Franklin Borough, which as recently as two years ago employed more than 300.

The company has said it severed its manufacturing ties to Johnstown -- where the company was founded -- as a cost-saving measure.

On Tuesday FreightCar will announce its fourth quarter and annual earnings report for 2008. FreightCar reported earnings of $7.4 million in the third quarter but a net loss of $3.7 million for the nine-month period ended Sept. 30.

The price of the FreightCar's stock is down by more than $20 per share since Feb. 13 of last year.

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