No decision on layoffs was announced afterward, but company chief executive Patrick Gamble sent a company-wide e-mail to staff late in the afternoon with word about the talks.
"The Board deliberated very carefully over the entire management proposal and approved the next steps," Gamble wrote. "As a result, important employee announcements concerning downsizing, lay-offs, organizational adjustments, and job description changes will commence early next week. All impacted personnel will be contacted personally."
In a previous announcement, Gamble told employees he was estimating cuts at the railroad to be about 20 percent. The railroad employs more than 700 year-round employees and more than 100 others seasonally.
The company is facing declining revenues because of a drop in tourism and reduced production at the Flint Hills petroleum refinery. More than a third of the railroad's revenue comes from transporting products from the North Pole refinery.
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