ERIE -- GE Transportation Systems Inc., which announced in January the planned layoffs of 900 employees in Erie, has eliminated fewer than half that many jobs. About 110 people have been laid off; 250 others took early retirement; and 20 to 30 more jobs will be cut by year's end. GE Transportation systems, Erie's largest employer, had about 4,500 employees when the cuts were announced in January.

Still, the company says it will eventually lay off a revised target total of about 750 workers.

"We still see a very tough economy," said spokesman Jeff DeMarrais.

Randy Majewski, president of United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers Local 506, said he doesn't believe that even the revised figure of 750 jobs will be lost. That's because the company will fill orders for about 460 railroad locomotives by year's end, well ahead of company projections of 350.

The company operates a locomotive engine plant in Grove City. which supplies the Erie plant.