The company began operations in 1901, and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It is engaged in the business of building, repairing, and leasing freight cars, largely for the transportation of bulk materials like coal, metals, wood products and automobiles. In addition to the freight cars it constructs, the company also manufactures parts for use in cars built by other companies. It owns three factories—one in Danville, Illinois, one in Cherokee, Alabama and one in Roanoke, Virginia. The facility in Roanoke was closed in 2009 due to weak economic conditions, but it was announced on 21 February 2011 that it would reopen after an order for 1,500 coal cars from the Norfolk Southern Railway. In 2008, the company produced 10,349 freight cars, but its output decreased to 3,377 cars in 2009. During fiscal year 2010, FreightCar America had a profit of $36.52 million on revenue of $141.3 million. In June 2014 the Danville plant brought back over 100 employees with promises of work and being able to retire from the plant. They are set to be laid off indefinitely the end of February 2016. In mid-February 2017 the company announced layoffs at its Roanoke plant. This was followed by an announcement at the end of March 2017 that FreightCar America would idle the plant in June. On August 2, 2018 it was announced that The Andersons Inc. had signed an agreement to purchase FreightCar America Inc.'s rail-car facility in Danville, Illinois. The Andersons' goal is to turn the former freight-car manufacturing plant into a full-service freight and tank rail-car repair shop. The Andersons Rail Group will provide rail-car repair, painting, blasting, cleaning, tank-car certification and scrapping at the facility. Located along the CSX network, the 308,000-square-foot facility can store up to 400 rail cars.
2016 shooting
On October 25, 2016, a shooting occurred at a FreightCar America building in Roanoke, Virginia. Getachew Fekede, a 53-year-old former employee and Kenyan refugee who moved to the U.S. in 2011, fired ten rounds from a 9mm handgun, killing an employee and wounding three others. He then committed suicide. Police said the shooting appeared to be an act of workplace violence, but added that the possibility of terrorism will be investigated.
