Mk Rail Assembles Advisers To Help Chart A New Course

MK Rail Corp. said Tuesday it has formed a team of advisers to “explore options” after Morrison Knudsen Corp. announced it may sell its interests in the company.

Tim Wesley, a spokesman for the board of MK Rail, declined to disclose further details.

Gilbert E. Carmichael was elected chairman of MK Rail on March 7, one day after Morrison Knudsen said it might sell several of its business interests, including a 65 percent stake in MK Rail. On Tuesday he resigned as a senior vice president of Morrison Knudsen, but remains MK Rail’s chairman.

Morrison Knudsen’s stock dropped 20 percent Monday after the famed builder projected an estimated loss of $310 million for 1994, nearly double the $175 million loss initially foreseen, and acting chairman William Clark said he was stepping down.

The board of directors and management have been trying to rebuild the company after the disastrous tenure of former chairman and chief executive William Agee.

MK Rail designs, manufactures, distributes and maintains locomotive parts. Its 1994 sales totalled about $375 million.

The company was a division of Morrison Knudsen until April 1993, when 35 percent of MK Rail was sold in an initial public offering.