Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Oregon railcar company, Greenbrier, is struggling to get its biggest customer to follow through on a massive, eight-year order. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

Two years ago, General Electric signed a contract to buy 12,000 railcars from Greenbrier. The small Oregon company spent $30 million to build a new factory and the first cars started rolling off the line in December.

GE is buying them, but says it want to substantially reduce the order or even cancel it.

Greenbrier CEO, Bill Furman, says he understands there’s a financial crisis, but....

Bill Furman: “It doesn’t mean that if you sign a contract, that you can just walk away from a contract. Especially when you’re huge and you’re taking federal money.”

Railcar manufacturers in general are struggling as businesses ship fewer products – decreasing the need for new freight cars.