Bowing to pressure from the one-two punch of New York's Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, nuclear engineering firm Bechtel Plant Machinery decided yesterday to scale back the planned transfer of 260 positions from eastern New York to Monroeville -- bringing only 70 jobs here instead.

Rather than closing its plant in Schenectady, N.Y., as planned, Bechtel now promises to keep the facility open and employ 130 there. Another 60 will retire, while 30 more will have the option of interviewing for positions in Niskayuna, N.Y.

The U.S. senators boasted yesterday of the turnabout.

"We snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat," said Mr. Schumer.

The 70 engineering jobs being sent to the Pittsburgh area will be housed inside a former railroad building in Monroeville being renovated for another 550 Bechtel employees who work at an office park in Wilkins. Bechtel last year signed a 15-year lease with The Elmhurst Group for the 120,000-square-foot space.

Bechtel Machinery, a unit of the $18 billion San Francisco-based engineering and construction giant Bechtel Corp., maintains nuclear propulsion components for ships operated by the Navy. The unit was once part of Westinghouse Electric's Pittsburgh-area conglomerate.

Last year, Bechtel officials began looking at the possibility of consolidating its Wilkins and Schenectady operations in one city. In October it announced plans to move about 260 jobs from Schenectady to the Pittsburgh area, leaving only 70 jobs in eastern New York.

But New York's senators and U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty intervened, asking Bechtel to reconsider the decision, saying the move was made without consulting Congress, the state of New York or the city of Schenectady. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer also got involved. Bechtel agreed to postpone the move for 60 days -- a period that expired this month.

In confirming the compromise, a Bechtel spokesman said the agreement provided "stability" for its Schenectady work force while meeting the "efficiency goals we needed to achieve for the Navy."