Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group (Details Textual) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended			9 Months Ended				3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended					9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			10 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014		Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014		Sep. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014 Rail Group	Sep. 30, 2013 Rail Group	Sep. 30, 2014 Rail Group	Sep. 30, 2013 Rail Group	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group	Sep. 30, 2013 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group	Sep. 30, 2013 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group Wholly-owned subsidiaries	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group TRIP Holdings	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group TRL 2012	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group Wholly-owned qualified subsidiaries for leasing railcars from the Trusts	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group Minimum	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group Maximum	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcars owned one year or less at the time of sale Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group	Sep. 30, 2013 Railcars owned one year or less at the time of sale Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group	Sep. 30, 2014 Railcars owned one year or less at the time of sale Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group	Sep. 30, 2013 Railcars owned one year or less at the time of sale Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group	Sep. 30, 2014 Element	Sep. 30, 2014 Element	Sep. 30, 2014 Element Rail Group	Sep. 30, 2014 Element Railcars owned one year or less at the time of sale Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group
Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group (Textual) [Abstract]
Proceeds from the sale of leased railcars																										$ 767.9	$ 872.9
Revenue	1,562.8		1,110.3	4,508.6		3,109.3		802.3	541.5	2,164.1	1,439.2	203.0	150.6	870.6	454.6							47.4	0	411.1	19.0			153.4	378.8
Proceeds from railcar lease fleet sales owned more than one year at the time of sale				257.4		59.3																							235.7
Term of leases with third parties (in years)																				1 year	20 years
Net book value of equipment pledged as collateral for leasing group debt																1,864.1	1,408.6	606.1
Net book value of equipment securing capital lease obligations																46.0
Net book value of unpledged equipment																597.8
Period of railcars leased from the Trusts under operating leases (in years)																			22 years
Assets	8,544.9	[1]		8,544.9	[1]		7,313.4												199.1
Cash																			74.5
Railcars																			84.7
Operating lease obligations guaranteed by Trinity Industries, Inc. and certain subsidiaries												$ 18.7		$ 18.7

[1] (unaudited)