ALTOONA, Pa. -- Officials from Norfolk Southern Corp. defended their decision to close a freight car maintenance shop during a hearing on April 12, saying a poor economy is forcing their hand, a wire service reports.

But lawmakers and union representatives who attended the special hearing of the state's House of Representatives Transportation Committee said Norfolk Southern is breaking its promises to the community and shutting down a profitable facility.

"As it turned out, we had very serious economic difficulties. And while those commitments were made in good faith at the time, economic changes, operational considerations and revenues have driven decisions that have been unfortunate for the Hollidaysburg Car Shops," Richard Timmons, vice president of Norfolk Southern said at the hearing.

Thursday's hearing was one of two fact-finding meetings set up by the state House Transportation Committee. Lawmakers questioned Norfolk Southern officials about plans shut down the Hollidaysburg Car Shops, displacing 350 workers, despite promises to state officials the plant would stay open.

Norfolk Southern apparently promised to keep the car shops, about 85 miles east of Pittsburgh, open in return for officials' agreeing to a deal with CSX Corp. to divide Philadelphia-based Conrail. As part of the $10.3 billion deal, Norfolk Southern agreed to service 1,000 rail cars from Richmond, Va.-based CSX at the shops. Norfolk Southern took over the shop in 1998.

The local Transportation Workers Union has petitioned the Surface Transportation Board, a regulatory agency of the U.S. Congress, to look at Norfolk Southern's commitments to the plant and workers.

Union officials said 350 cars so far had been repaired at the shop.

"In our view Norfolk Southern has not shown a correlation between economic conditions and the plant closing because it does not exist," said Gary Maslinka, a spokesman for the Transportation Workers Union.

Maslinka gave the primary testimony on union workers' position.

"This is not a common plant closing. This is about a company that made repeated commitments," Maslinka told the Altoona Mirror.

The railroad company had planned to close down the shop and cut 385 jobs by March 1, but delayed those plans by six months after the intervention of Bud Shuster, whose district covered Blair County. Shuster, former chairman of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, retired in January.

In February, Norfolk Southern announced the shop would be shut down by Sept. 1 because there was not enough work to continue operating the Hollidaysburg shop.

A clause in the deal allows Norfolk Southern to close the car shops if it offers similar jobs to the workers in other plants the company owns in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

"We are not going to sit back and watch someone wipe out hundreds of good jobs, close down a productive facility and break their commitments," said Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, the acting state Senate president. "What Norfolk Southern is attempting here is wrong, and our message must be unmistakable -- we are fighting back."

Jubelirer's comments came at a news conference in Altoona on Wednesday, where he was joined by state Rep. Jerry Stern, R-Martinsburg, and Bill Shuster, son Bud Shuster, who is running for his father's 9th Congressional District seat.