Press Releases

The Greenbrier Companies announced today that it has acquired the stock of Meridian Rail Holdings Corp., which principally conducts business under the name Meridian Rail Services ("Meridian"). The purchase price of the acquisition is $227.5 million in cash, plus working capital adjustments. The Company also disclosed that, concurrent with the close of the Meridian acquisition, it has increased its revolving line of credit with a new $300 million, five-year facility.

Meridian is a leading supplier of wheel maintenance services to the North American freight car industry, with over 25 years' experience. Operating from six strategically located wheel facilities, Meridian supplies replacement wheel sets and axle services to approximately 170 freight car maintenance locations where worn or damaged wheels, axles, or bearings are replaced. Meridian also operates a coupler reconditioning facility and performs railcar repair at one of its wheel services facilities.

With the addition of Meridian's facilities, Greenbrier believes its expanded network of 10 strategically located wheelshops and 20 repair, refurbishment and replacement parts facilities provides a competitive advantage and economies of scale. The combined entities are now the largest wheel service network and one of the largest purchasers of wheels in North America. Together, the two companies' facilities create an end-to-end shop network spanning much of the continental United States and Mexico.

The Greenbrier Companies (www.gbrx.com), headquartered in Lake Oswego, OR, is a leading supplier of transportation equipment and services to the railroad industry. The Company builds new railroad freight cars in its manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and marine barges at its U.S. facility. It also repairs and refurbishes freight cars and provides wheels and railcar parts at 30 locations across North America. Greenbrier builds new railroad freight cars and refurbishes freight cars for the European market through both its operations in Poland and various subcontractor facilities throughout Europe. Greenbrier owns approximately 9,000 railcars, and performs management services for approximately 135,000 railcars.

"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: This release may contain forward-looking statements. Greenbrier uses words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "expect," "future," "intend" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, actual future costs and the availability of materials and a trained workforce; steel price increases and scrap surcharges; changes in product mix and the mix between manufacturing and leasing & services segment; labor disputes, energy shortages or operating difficulties that might disrupt manufacturing operations or the flow of cargo; production difficulties and product delivery delays as a result of, among other matters, changing technologies or non-performance of subcontractors or suppliers; ability to obtain suitable contracts for the sale of leased equipment; all as may be discussed in more detail under the headings "Risk Factors" on page 8 of Part I , Item 1a and "Forward Looking Statements" on page 25 of Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2006 . Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's opinions only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements.

FCMN Contact: margaret.vallejos@gbrx.com

SOURCE: The Greenbrier Companies