Rail wheel plant construction stopped

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Slowing demand has forced a Chicago company to halt construction of a railroad wheel plant in Tulsa that would have employed 250. <br><br>Griffin Wheel Co., a division of Chicago-based

Friday, December 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Slowing demand has forced a Chicago company to halt construction of a railroad wheel plant in Tulsa that would have employed 250.

Griffin Wheel Co., a division of Chicago-based Amsted Industries, announced the move Friday.

``We're going through one of the periodic downturns that the industry encounters from time to time,'' company President William J. Demmert said. ``We are halting construction at a point where it will be easy for us to resume completion of the project once the demand for wheels improves.''

The facility would have manufactured cast steel wheels for railroad freight cars and locomotives.

The company broke ground on a 300-acre site in north Tulsa in September 1999. The plant would have cost $150 million, company spokesman Jerry Gura said.