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Description of the Business	12 Months Ended
Description of the Business	Dec. 31, 2013
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Description of the Business	Description of the Business American Railcar Industries, Inc. (a North Dakota corporation) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively the Company or ARI) manufactures railcars, which are offered for sale or lease, custom designed railcar parts and other industrial products, primarily aluminum and special alloy steel castings. These products are sold to various types of companies including leasing companies, industrial companies, shippers, and Class I railroads. ARI leases railcars manufactured by the Company to certain markets. ARI provides railcar services consisting of railcar repair services, engineering and field services and fleet management services. More specifically, such services include maintenance planning, project management, tracking and tracing, regulatory compliance, mileage audit, rolling stock taxes, and online service access. The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared by ARI and include the accounts of ARI and its direct and indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries: Castings, LLC (Castings), ARI Component Venture, LLC (ARI Component), ARI Fleet Services of Canada, Inc., ARI Longtrain, Inc. (Longtrain), and Longtrain Leasing I, LLC (Longtrain Leasing). The accounts of American Railcar Mauritius I (ARM I) and American Railcar Mauritius II (ARM II) have also been included through December 27, 2013, the effective date of the sale of all of the Company's ownership interests in such entities. See Note 9, Investments in and Loans to Joint Ventures, for further discussion regarding this sale. From time to time, the Company makes investments through Longtrain. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.