Released on April 20, 2011

American Railcar Industries Inc. (ARI), St. Charles, Mo., announced the board of directors of its Ohio Castings joint venture has approved a plan to restart production at the Alliance, Ohio, metalcasting facility.

“We are very excited to announce the plan to resume production at Ohio Castings,” ARI President and Chief Executive Officer James Cowan said. “The decision to restart production was based primarily on strengthening demand for new railcars. We expect this decision will prove beneficial as we ramp up railcar production in the second half of 2011.”

Ohio Castings was temporarily idled in June 2009 due to weak demand in the new railcar market. ARI said in a press release it has seen an increase in new railcar quotes, orders and backlog over the past several months. Ohio Castings is expected to begin shipping castings during the third quarter of 2011.

ARI is a one-third owner of Ohio Castings, which provides the company and its partners access to railcar castings at a favorable price. Railcar castings, which historically have been subject to supply constraints, are a critical railcar component.

ARI is a designer and manufacturer of hopper and tank railcars. The company also leases, repairs and refurbishes railcars, provides fleet management services and designs and manufactures certain railcar and industrial components.