Description of the Business	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022
Description of the Business [Abstract]
Description of the Business	Note 1 – Description of the Business FreightCar America, Inc. (“FreightCar”) operates primarily in North America through its direct and indirect subsidiaries, and manufactures a wide range of railroad freight cars, supplies railcar parts and leases freight cars. The Company designs and builds high-quality railcars, including coal cars, bulk commodity cars, covered hopper cars, intermodal and non-intermodal flat cars, mill gondola cars, coil steel cars and boxcars, and also specializes in the conversion of railcars for re-purposed use. The Company is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and has facilities in the following locations: Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, and Castaños, Coahuila, Mexico (“Castaños”). On September 10, 2020, the Company announced its plan to permanently close its manufacturing facility in Cherokee, Alabama (the “Shoals Facility”). The closure reduced costs and aligned the Company’s manufacturing capacity with the current railcar market. The Company ceased production at the Shoals Facility in February 2021. See Note 14–Restructuring and Impairment Charges.

The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, major products or services, principal markets including location, and the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination, including but not limited to, assets, revenues, or earnings. For an entity that has not commenced principal operations, disclosures about the risks and uncertainties related to the activities in which the entity is currently engaged and an understanding of what those activities are being directed toward.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99393423&loc=d3e5967-108592

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2134479

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