The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of railroad freight car equipment and services in North America, Europe, and South America.
The company offers railcar management, regulatory compliance and leasing services to railcar owners or other users of railcars in North America. The company is a leading provider of freight railcar wheel services, maintenance and parts in North America. Through unconsolidated affiliates the company produces rail and industrial compon...
The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of railroad freight car equipment and services in North America, Europe, and South America.
The company offers railcar management, regulatory compliance and leasing services to railcar owners or other users of railcars in North America. The company is a leading provider of freight railcar wheel services, maintenance and parts in North America. Through unconsolidated affiliates the company produces rail and industrial components and has an ownership stake in a railcar manufacturer in Brazil.
The company operates an integrated business model in North America that combines freight car manufacturing, wheel services, railcar maintenance, component parts, leasing and fleet management services. The company’s model is designed to provide customers with a comprehensive set of freight car product and service solutions by utilizing the company’s substantial engineering, mechanical and technical capabilities as well as the company’s experienced commercial personnel. The company’s integrated model allows the company to develop cross-selling opportunities and synergies among the company’s reportable segments thereby enhancing the company’s margins. The company’s integrated model is difficult to duplicate and provides greater value for the company’s customers and investors.
The company operates in three reportable segments: Manufacturing; Maintenance Services; and Leasing & Management Services.
Products and Services
Manufacturing Segment
North American Railcar Manufacturing - The company manufactures most freight railcar types in use in the North American market (other than coal cars) and the company continues to expand its product features and functionality. The company has demonstrated an ability to capture high market shares in many of the car types the company produces. The primary products the company produce for the North American market are:
Freight Railcars - The company produces a variety of covered hopper cars for food grade products, grain, fertilizer, cement, minerals and plastic pellets, as well as gondolas and open top hoppers for steel, metals, scrap and aggregates. The company also produces a wide range of boxcars, which are used in the transport of paper products, perishables and general merchandise. The company’s flat car products include center partition cars for the forest products industry and heavy-duty flat cars.
Tank Cars - The company produces a variety of tank cars, including general purpose, pressurized, coiled, lined, insulated and stainless steel. These are designed for the transportation of hazardous and non-hazardous commodities such as petroleum products, ethanol, liquefied petroleum gas, petrochemicals, caustic soda, chlorine, fertilizers, vegetable oils, bio-diesel and various other products.
Intermodal Railcars - The company manufactures a comprehensive portfolio of intermodal railcars. The company’s most popular intermodal product is the company’s double-stack railcars called Maxi-Stack I and Maxi-Stack IV. The double-stack railcar is designed to transport containers stacked two-high on a single platform and provides significant operating and capital savings over other types of intermodal railcars.
Automotive - The company manufactures a full line of railcar equipment specifically designed for the transportation of light vehicles. The company’s automotive offerings include the Auto-Max II, Multi-Max and Multi-Max Plus products, which are designed to carry automobiles, CUVs, SUVs, trucks and high sided vans efficiently.
Sustainable Conversions - The company is a leading provider of sustainable conversions, which repurposes existing railcars into new equipment service. The company’s sustainable conversions are an efficient and cost-savings option for railcar owners looking to diversify and optimize their fleets. The company rebodies or stretches covered hoppers into larger cubic service, re-rack or perform deck conversion on auto racks, and perform tank car retrofits to help customers manage pending regulations.
European Railcar Manufacturing - The company’s European manufacturing operations produce a variety of freight wagon types, including box, car carrier, covered, flat, hopper, intermodal, steel products and specialty wagons. In addition, the company’s European manufacturing operations produce a comprehensive line of pressurized tank wagons for liquid petroleum, liquefied petroleum gas, chlorine and ammonia and non-pressurized tank cars for light oil, chemicals and other products, and are a leading manufacturer of bogies and other key components. The company offers a full range of leasing options for a variety of freight and tank wagons that the company produces, along with wagon repair and maintenance services.
Maintenance Services Segment
Wheel Services - The company operates a wheel services network in North America. The company’s wheel shops provide complete wheel services including reconditioning of wheels and axles in addition to new axle machining, finishing and downsizing.
Railcar Maintenance - The company operates a railcar maintenance network in North America including shops certified by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). The company’s shops perform routine railcar maintenance for third parties and for the company’s leased and managed railcar fleets.
Component Parts Manufacturing - The company’s component parts facilities recondition and manufacture railcar cushioning units, couplers, yokes, side frames, bolsters and various other parts.
In September 2024, the company combined the Maintenance Services segment within the Manufacturing segment.
Leasing & Management Services Segment
Leasing - The company operates a railcar leasing business in North America. The company’s relationships with financial institutions and operating lessors combined with the company’s ownership of a lease fleet of approximately 15,500 railcars enables the company to offer flexible leases to the company’s customers, including operating leases of varied intervals and ‘per diem’ leases. The percentage of owned units on lease was 98.5% at August 31, 2024 with an average remaining lease term of 4.0 years and an average age of 6.5 years. The company also originates leases of railcars, which are either newly built or refurbished by the company’s operations. These may be held in the fleet or sold with attached leases to financial institutions or other investors, typically with multi-year management services agreements. As an equipment owner and an originator of leases, the company participates principally in the operating lease segment of the market.
Management Services - The company’s North American management services business offers a broad array of software and services that include railcar maintenance management, railcar accounting services (such as billing and revenue collection, car hire receivable and payable administration), total fleet management (including railcar tracking using proprietary software), fleet logistics, administration and railcar re-marketing. The company provides management services for a fleet of railcars for railroads, shippers, carriers, institutional investors and other leasing and transportation companies in North America. In addition, the company’s Regulatory Services Group offers regulatory, engineering, process consulting and advocacy support to the tank car owner and shipper community, among other services. The company’s management services business is responsible for the maintenance and administration of the company’s fleet of railcars.
Unconsolidated Affiliates
The United States (U.S.) Axle Manufacturing - The company has a 41.9% interest in Axis, LLC (Axis), a joint venture that manufactures and sells axles to its joint venture partners for use and distribution both domestically and internationally.
Brazilian Railcar Manufacturing - The company has a 60% ownership interest in Greenbrier Maxion-Equipamentos e Serviços Ferroviários S.A. (Greenbrier-Maxion), a leading railcar manufacturer in South America, based in Hortolandia, Brazil. Greenbrier-Maxion also assembles bogies and offers a range of aftermarket services including railcar overhaul and refurbishment.
Brazilian Castings and Component Parts Manufacturing - The company has a 29.5% ownership interest in Amsted-Maxion Fundição e Equipamentos Ferroviários S.A. (Amsted-Maxion) based in Cruzeiro, Brazil. Amsted-Maxion is a manufacturer of various castings and wheel components for railcars and other heavy industrial equipment. Amsted-Maxion has a 40% ownership position in Greenbrier-Maxion and is integrated with the operations of the company’s Brazilian railcar manufacturer.
Other Unconsolidated Affiliates - The company has other unconsolidated affiliates which primarily include joint ventures that produce rail and industrial components.
Customers
Customers across the company’s reportable segments include railroads, leasing companies, financial institutions, shippers, carriers and transportation companies. The company has strong, long-term relationships with many of the company’s customers.
Marketing and Product Development
In North America, the company leverages an integrated marketing and sales effort to coordinate relationships in the company’s various segments. The company provides its customers with a diverse range of equipment, services and financing alternatives designed to satisfy each customer’s unique needs, whether the customer is buying new equipment, sustainable conversion of existing equipment or seeking to outsource the maintenance or management of equipment. These custom programs may involve a combination of railcar products, leasing, sustainable conversions and remarketing services. In addition, the company provides customized maintenance management, equipment management, accounting and compliance services and proprietary software solutions.
In Europe and South America, the company maintains relationships with customers through market-specific sales personnel. The company’s engineering and technical staff works closely with their customer counterparts on the design and certification of railcars. Many European railroads are state-owned and are subject to European Union (EU) regulations covering the tender of government contracts. In Brazil, the government grants long-term concession contracts to private companies to operate and invest in Brazil’s freight rail network.
Regulation
The company must comply with the rules of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the administrative agencies it oversees, including the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the U.S. and Transport Canada (TC) in Canada, each of which administer and enforce laws and regulations relating to railroad safety. Products sold and leased by the company in North America must meet AAR, TC, PHMSA and FRA standards.
The company's operations are subject to regulation of health and safety matters by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Secretaria del Trabajo y Prevision Social (STPS) in Mexico.
Research and Development
The company's research and development costs were $5.2 million during the year ended August 31, 2024.
Patents and Trademarks
The company has a proactive program aimed at protecting the company’s intellectual property and the results from the company’s research and development. The company has obtained a number of U.S. and non-U.S. patents of varying duration, and pending patent applications, registered trademarks, copyrights and trade names.
History
The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. was founded in 1974.