A declining demand for railcars and a cutback on financing to wind farm developers are behind two state plant closings that put close to 400 people out of work this month in Oklahoma.

Dallas-based Trinity Industries Inc. - which owns a variety of businesses in the industrial, energy, transportation and construction sectors - issued a business update Wednesday that mentioned the downsizings and the company's decision to defer an $800 million investment in 10,000 railcars for ethanol industry lessees scheduled for delivery to Trinity's leasing company in 2010 and 2011.

The closure this month of Trinity's Tank Car Inc.'s freight railcar manufacturing plant in Oklahoma City affected about 250 hourly and administrative employees. Tulsa-based Trinity Structural Towers Inc., which produced towers for wind farms, closed Jan. 16. About 130 hourly and administrative workers lost their jobs. Employees at both facilities were given a 60-day notice, the company said.

Reductions not just in Oklahoma

As a result of the declining demand for railcars, Trinity said other plants in Missouri and Texas also will be shuttered. Work force reductions also have occurred at plants in Georgia, Texas, Mexico and at corporate headquarters. A Missouri plant that employs 228 is to close Tuesday. Workers were told in early December, a published report said.

"These are very difficult times for the North American railcar manufacturing industry and the global economy as a whole," Timothy Wallace, Trinity's chairman, president and chief executive, said in a statement.

"We have significantly reduced our railcar manufacturing capacity in the last few months and will continue to monitor demand very closely.

"We expect to reduce railcar manufacturing capacity further if demand does not recover in the near-term."

Trinity said it delivered about 7,050 railcars in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with the 6,740 deliveries in the last quarter of 2007. The company received orders for about 1,180 railcars last quarter.

Railcar deliveries for the first half of this year are expected to be between 6,000 to 7,000.

The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TRN.