The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. in its first fiscal quarter ending Nov. 30, 2021 reported new railcar orders for 6,300 units valued at $685 million. These orders increased its backlog to 28,000 units valued at $3 billion. Greenbrier announced new orders totaling 2,900 units valued at $345 million received during December and January, the first two months of its second fiscal quarter that began on Dec. 1, 2021. The new railcar orders continue to reflect a broad range of railcar types including gondolas, tanks, covered hoppers and automobile-carrying units, indicative of broader industry trends that reveal a resurgent North American freight railcar market.

On Jan. 31, the Railway Supply Institute (RSI) American Railway Car Institute Committee (ARCI) released data showing a 50 percent increase in North American freight railcar orders in the fourth calendar quarter of 2021, compared to the third calendar quarter of 2021. The 13,277 railcars ordered represent the highest quarterly order number since the fourth calendar quarter of 2018. ARCI also reported total industry backlog of 42,993 railcars, up from 37,779 railcars in 2021's third calendar quarter. Industry book-to-bill now stands 1.7x, significantly above the 2021 third calendar quarter ratio of 1.0x.

William A. Furman, Chairman and CEO said, "Railcar orders received during the first two months of the second fiscal quarter demonstrate Greenbrier's strength in our core North American rail business. Almost all orders announced today originated from North America where we have scaled our flexible manufacturing footprint to address the increasing levels of demand that we began preparing for months ago. Order activity for Greenbrier and industrywide validates our recent investments in working capital to support the early stage of an extended recovery cycle for new railcar demand."