Rail equipment manufacturer FreightCar America will shift all manufacturing to Mexico as part of moves announced Monday. The company has completed purchase of its partner’s 50% interest and now is sole owner of its new Castanos, Mexico, plant where it all railcar manufacturing will be based by February 2021. The company will close two U.S. plants. It secured a $40 million loan with a global investment firm, and will add a member of that firm as one of two new members of its board of directors. The other new member will be Jesus Gil, general manager of the Castanos facility and a veteran of the railcar industry who has managed operations for two of FreightCar America’s primary competitors. It will hold an online special meeting of stockholders to complete the loan funding by late November. “We exit a prolonged period when our business was hampered by high costs, sustained losses and a generally challenged competitive position,” company president and CEO Jim Meyer said in a press releas “We now enter a new chapter, where our business will be supported by a single new production facility designed specific to our needs, a highly experienced and cost competitive workforce, and a significantly enhanced competitive profile that includes a $25 million reduction in annual fixed costs achieved through the closures of our two facilities in Cherokee, Ala. (‘Shoals’), and Roanoke, Va
