Accounting Changes	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Accounting Changes and Error Corrections [Abstract]
Accounting Changes	Change in Accounting Estimate At the end of 2015, we changed the approach used to measure service and interest costs for pension and other postretirement benefits. For 2015, the Company measured service and interest costs utilizing a single weighted-average discount rate derived from the yield curve used to measure the plan obligations. For 2016, we will measure service and interest costs by applying the specific spot rates along that yield curve to the plans’ liability cash flows. The Company believes the new approach provides a more precise measurement of service and interest costs by aligning the timing of the plans’ liability cash flows to the corresponding spot rates on the yield curve. This change does not affect the measurement of our plan obligations. The Company has accounted for this change as a change in accounting estimate and, accordingly, has accounted for it on a prospective basis. In 2014, we completed a review of the estimated useful lives used for our North American railcar fleet and determined that the economic service life of many of our railcars differed from the useful life that was used to calculate depreciation. As a result, effective January 1, 2014, we revised the estimated useful lives from a range of 30-38 years to a range of 27-42 years. In aggregate, the average depreciable life of the fleet increased approximately 2.2 years. The impacts of these implemented changes on depreciation expense for affected assets was a net decrease in depreciation expense of approximately $21.9 million and an increase in net income of $14.0 million, or $0.31 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2014. New Accounting Pronouncements Adopted Debt Issue Costs As of December 31, 2015, the Company elected to early adopt Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2015-03, Interest - Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs, which requires presentation of debt issue costs as a deduction from the carrying amount of the related debt liability on the balance sheet, rather than as a deferred charge. Adoption of the new guidance did not impact the amount or timing of net income but required us to reclassify deferred debt issuance costs ($18.8 million in 2015 and $17.6 million in 2014), which were previously included in other assets, to a reduction in the carrying amount of our related debt balances. Discontinued Operations In April 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU 2014-08, Presentation of Financial Statements (Topic 205) and Property, Plant and Equipment (Topic 360): Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Components of an Entity. The amendments require that disposals representing strategic shifts that have (or will have) a major effect on an entity’s operations or financial results should be reported in discontinued operations. The amendments also expand the disclosure requirements for both discontinued operations and significant dispositions that do not qualify as discontinued operations. The amendments were effective for us beginning in the first quarter of 2015. Adoption of the new guidance did not impact the amount or timing of net income or the presentation and disclosures of our financial statements. New Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted Consolidation In February 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-02, Consolidation (Topic 810) Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis, which amends the analysis required to determine whether to consolidate certain types of legal entities such as limited partnerships, limited liability corporations, and certain securitization structures. The new guidance is effective for us beginning in the first quarter of 2016, with early adoption permitted. Application of the new guidance will not impact our financial statements and related disclosures. Business Combinations In September 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-16, Business Combinations (Topic 805), Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments, which requires the acquirer in a business combination to recognize measurement-period adjustments in the period in which it determines the amount of the adjustment. The new guidance is effective for us in the first quarter of 2016, with early adoption permitted. We do not expect the new guidance to have a significant impact on our financial statements and related disclosures. Revenue from Contracts with Customers In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which supersedes most current revenue recognition guidance, including industry-specific guidance. The new guidance requires companies to recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration it expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. In August 2015, the FASB deferred the effective date of this standard from the first quarter of 2017 to the first quarter of 2018. Early adoption is permitted as of the original effective date. We can adopt the new guidance using either the retrospective method or the cumulative effect transition method. We are still evaluating the effect that the new guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures, including which transition method we will use and when we will choose to adopt this standard.

Change in Accounting Estimate

At the end of 2015, we changed the approach used to measure service and interest costs for pension and other postretirement benefits. For 2015, the Company measured service and interest costs utilizing a single weighted-average discount rate derived from the yield curve used to measure the plan obligations. For 2016, we will measure service and interest costs by applying the specific spot rates along that yield curve to the plans’ liability cash flows. The Company believes the new approach provides a more precise measurement of service and interest costs by aligning the timing of the plans’ liability cash flows to the corresponding spot rates on the yield curve. This change does not affect the measurement of our plan obligations. The Company has accounted for this change as a change in accounting estimate and, accordingly, has accounted for it on a prospective basis.

In 2014, we completed a review of the estimated useful lives used for our North American railcar fleet and determined that the economic service life of many of our railcars differed from the useful life that was used to calculate depreciation. As a result, effective January 1, 2014, we revised the estimated useful lives from a range of 30-38 years to a range of 27-42 years. In aggregate, the average depreciable life of the fleet increased approximately 2.2 years. The impacts of these implemented changes on depreciation expense for affected assets was a net decrease in depreciation expense of approximately $21.9 million and an increase in net income of $14.0 million, or $0.31 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2014.

New Accounting Pronouncements Adopted

Debt Issue Costs

As of December 31, 2015, the Company elected to early adopt Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2015-03, Interest - Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs, which requires presentation of debt issue costs as a deduction from the carrying amount of the related debt liability on the balance sheet, rather than as a deferred charge. Adoption of the new guidance did not impact the amount or timing of net income but required us to reclassify deferred debt issuance costs ($18.8 million in 2015 and $17.6 million in 2014), which were previously included in other assets, to a reduction in the carrying amount of our related debt balances.

Discontinued Operations

In April 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU 2014-08, Presentation of Financial Statements (Topic 205) and Property, Plant and Equipment (Topic 360): Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Components of an Entity. The amendments require that disposals representing strategic shifts that have (or will have) a major effect on an entity’s operations or financial results should be reported in discontinued operations. The amendments also expand the disclosure requirements for both discontinued operations and significant dispositions that do not qualify as discontinued operations.

The amendments were effective for us beginning in the first quarter of 2015. Adoption of the new guidance did not impact the amount or timing of net income or the presentation and disclosures of our financial statements.

New Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

Consolidation

In February 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-02, Consolidation (Topic 810) Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis, which amends the analysis required to determine whether to consolidate certain types of legal entities such as limited partnerships, limited liability corporations, and certain securitization structures. The new guidance is effective for us beginning in the first quarter of 2016, with early adoption permitted. Application of the new guidance will not impact our financial statements and related disclosures.

Business Combinations

In September 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-16, Business Combinations (Topic 805), Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments, which requires the acquirer in a business combination to recognize measurement-period adjustments in the period in which it determines the amount of the adjustment. The new guidance is effective for us in the first quarter of 2016, with early adoption permitted. We do not expect the new guidance to have a significant impact on our financial statements and related disclosures.

Revenue from Contracts with Customers

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which supersedes most current revenue recognition guidance, including industry-specific guidance. The new guidance requires companies to recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration it expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services.

In August 2015, the FASB deferred the effective date of this standard from the first quarter of 2017 to the first quarter of 2018. Early adoption is permitted as of the original effective date. We can adopt the new guidance using either the retrospective method or the cumulative effect transition method. We are still evaluating the effect that the new guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures, including which transition method we will use and when we will choose to adopt this standard.