Exhibit 99.1

Greenbrier Reports Fiscal Second Quarter EPS of $0.45 and Announces

Strategies to Enhance Margins and Improve Capital Efficiency

~ Targeting minimum 200 basis points of margin enhancement and $100 million of

capital efficiency improvements by end of FY 2014~

~ Diverse backlog grows by 2,000 units in quarter with orders for an additional 3,700 units

received after quarter end ~

Lake Oswego, Oregon, April 4, 2013 – The Greenbrier Companies (NYSE: GBX) today reported results for its second quarter ended February 28, 2013.

Second Quarter Highlights

Strategic Initiatives

William A. Furman, president and chief executive officer said, “Our business momentum continues to improve, validating the strength of our integrated business model. Our strategy is to diversify our product offerings, shift production to our lower cost manufacturing footprint in Mexico, and increase throughput in our lease syndication and management services businesses. Since September 1, 2012, we have received diverse orders for 9,600 railcars in North America and Europe valued at over $1 billion.”

Furman continued, “Our integrated model differentiates Greenbrier from industry peers. However, we can extract more value out of our model and further enhance overall performance in each of our operating segments through a series of initiatives designed to improve capital efficiency and enhance margins. We intend to liberate $100 million of capital by no later than the end of our fiscal 2014 by selling non-core or underperforming operations, particularly in our underperforming Wheel Services, Refurbishment & Parts segment, reducing working capital and refining our leasing model to take more of our assets and debt off the balance sheet in a tax efficient manner. We intend to redeploy this $100 million of liberated capital to invest in new opportunities, pay down debt, or return to shareholders. The announced sale of the assets of our roller bearings parts operation is the first of many steps in this regard.”

“We have set a target to grow gross margins by at least 200 bps to 13.5% of revenue by the fourth quarter of our fiscal 2014. This improvement equates to about $40 million of incremental EBITDA on an annualized forward run rate. Our capital efficiency initiatives, coupled with specifically identified cost reduction and efficiency improvement initiatives, and currently favorable industry and backlog tailwinds are expected to drive this improvement. Assuming economic and industry fundamentals continue to be favorable, we believe these actions will comprise the first step of a multi-phase campaign to improve margins and capital efficiency and enhance Greenbrier’s return on invested capital and shareholder value,” Furman concluded.

Mark Rittenbaum, chief financial officer, also noted, “In order to provide more granularity on the performance of each of our segments, we expect to begin providing operating margin by business segment starting in the first fiscal quarter of 2014. We will also periodically report the progress made on our initiatives starting after our third fiscal quarter of 2013.”

Financial Summary

Segment Summary

Business Outlook

Based on current business trends and industry forecasts, management currently anticipates the Company’s new railcar deliveries in 2013 to be about 13,000 units. Management anticipates that fiscal 2013 revenue, adjusted EBITDA and earnings per share will be similar to fiscal 2012, with the second half of the year being stronger than the first half of the year.

Conference Call

Greenbrier will host a teleconference to discuss second quarter results. In conjunction with this news release, Greenbrier has posted a supplemental earnings presentation and strategic initiatives presentation to our website (www.gbrx.com). Teleconference details are as follows:

Please access the site 10 minutes prior to the start time. Following the call, a webcast replay will be available for 30 days. Telephone replay will be available through April 20, 2013, at 203-369-3310.

About Greenbrier Companies

Greenbrier (www.gbrx.com), headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, is a leading supplier of transportation equipment and services to the railroad industry. Greenbrier builds new railroad freight cars in its four manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Mexico and marine barges at its U.S. facility. It also repairs and refurbishes freight cars and provides wheels and railcar parts at 39 locations across North America. Greenbrier builds new railroad freight cars and refurbishes freight cars for the European market through both its operations in Poland and various subcontractor facilities throughout Europe. Greenbrier owns approximately 9,200 railcars, and performs management services for approximately 225,000 railcars.

“SAFE HARBOR” STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: This presentation may contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding expected new railcar production volumes and schedules, expected customer demand for the Company’s products and services, plans to increase manufacturing capacity, new railcar delivery volumes and schedules, growth in demand for the Company’s railcar services and parts business, and the Company’s strategic initiatives and future financial performance. Greenbrier uses words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “forecast,” “potential,” “goal,” “contemplates,” “expects,” “intends,” “initiatives,” “targets,” “plans,” “projects,” “hopes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “could,” “would,” “will,” “may,” “can,” “designed to,” “foreseeable future” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from in the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, reported backlog is not indicative of our financial results; turmoil in the credit markets and financial services industry; high levels of indebtedness and compliance with the terms of our indebtedness; write-downs of goodwill, intangibles and other assets in future periods; sufficient availability of borrowing capacity; fluctuations in demand for newly manufactured railcars or failure to obtain orders as anticipated in developing forecasts; loss of one or more significant customers; customer payment defaults or related issues; actual future costs and the availability of materials and a trained workforce; failure to design or manufacture new products or technologies or to achieve

certification or market acceptance of new products or technologies; steel or specialty component price fluctuations and availability and scrap surcharges; changes in product mix and the mix between segments; labor disputes, energy shortages or operating difficulties that might disrupt manufacturing operations or the flow of cargo; production difficulties and product delivery delays as a result of, among other matters, changing technologies, production of new railcar types, or non-performance of subcontractors or suppliers; ability to obtain suitable contracts for the sale of leased equipment and risks related to car hire and residual values; difficulties associated with governmental regulation, including environmental liabilities; integration of current or future acquisitions; succession planning; all as may be discussed in more detail under the headings “Risk Factors” and “Forward Looking Statements” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2012, and our other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management’s opinions only as of the date hereof. Except for any periodic progress reports on strategic initiatives, except as otherwise required by law, we do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Adjusted EBITDA is not a financial measure under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). We define Adjusted EBITDA as earnings attributable to Greenbrier before interest and foreign exchange, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is a performance measurement tool commonly used by rail supply companies and Greenbrier. You should not consider Adjusted EBITDA in isolation or as a substitute for other financial statement data determined in accordance with GAAP. In addition, because Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and is susceptible to varying calculations, the Adjusted EBITDA measure presented may differ from and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.

Economic EPS is not a financial measure under GAAP. Economic EPS is used to measure the current economic impact of our Convertible Bonds due in 2018 that have a conversion strike price of $38.05/share, which exceeds our current stock price. We define Economic EPS as net earnings attributable to Greenbrier divided by the sum of weighted average basic common shares outstanding, plus the dilutive effect of warrants. This calculation excludes the dilutive effect of the shares underlying the 2018 bonds under the “if converted” method, which is included in the calculation of Diluted EPS. You should not consider Economic EPS in isolation or as a substitute for other financial statement data determined in accordance with GAAP. In addition, because Economic EPS is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and is susceptible to varying calculations, the Economic EPS measure presented may differ from and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.

THE GREENBRIER COMPANIES, INC.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(In thousands, unaudited)

THE GREENBRIER COMPANIES, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Income

(In thousands, except per share amounts, unaudited)

THE GREENBRIER COMPANIES, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In thousands, unaudited)

THE GREENBRIER COMPANIES, INC.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

Quarterly Results of Operations

(In thousands, except per share amounts, unaudited)

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

Quarterly Results of Operations

(In thousands, except per share amounts, unaudited)

THE GREENBRIER COMPANIES, INC.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

Reconciliation of Net Earnings attributable to Greenbrier to Adjusted EBITDA ⁽¹⁾

(In thousands, unaudited)

THE GREENBRIER COMPANIES, INC.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

Calculation of Diluted Earnings Per Share

(In thousands, except per share amounts, unaudited)

The shares used in the computation of the Company’s basic and diluted earnings per common share are reconciled as follows:

Dilutive EPS was calculated using the more dilutive of two approaches. The first approach includes the dilutive effect of outstanding warrants and shares underlying the 2026 Convertible notes in the share count using the treasury stock method. The second approach supplements the first by including the “if converted” effect of the 2018 Convertible notes issued in March 2011. Under the “if converted method” debt issuance and interest costs, both net of tax, associated with the convertible notes are added back to net earnings and the share count is increased by the shares underlying the convertible notes. The 2026 Convertible notes would only be included in the calculation of both approaches if the current stock price is greater than the initial conversion price of $48.05 using the treasury stock method.

Earnings before interest and debt issuance costs (net of tax) on convertible notes

Weighted average diluted common shares outstanding

THE GREENBRIER COMPANIES, INC.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

Reconciliation of Basic Earnings Per Share to Economic Earnings Per Share ⁽¹⁾

(In thousands, except per share amounts, unaudited)

The shares used in the computation of the Company’s basic and economic earnings per common share are reconciled as follows:

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