Greenbrier and Watco have reached an agreement to terminate their railcar repair joint venture GBW Railcar Services (GBW).

As part of the deal, Greenbrier will resume operation of its previous assets and employees working at 12 shops, and Watco will regain operation of its 14 shops.

Watco will also gain control of four mobile shops currently managed by GBW, which was established in 2014.

The proposed deal is expected to allow both Greenbrier and Watco to better capitalise on the ongoing trends in North America’s railcar repair market, as well as meet demand for railcar repair services within their own business models.

“GBW was formed by combining Greenbrier and Watco shops into a network of railcar repair facilities across the US for tank cars in oil by rail service.”

Greenbrier Rail Services Wheels and Parts senior vice-president Rick Turner will manage the shops returned to the company.

Watco Companies CEO and GBW current operations leader Rick Webb said: “One of the main reasons GBW was formed was to provide capacity to service, recertify and retrofit North America’s tank car fleet.

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“For a variety of reasons, tank car services and retrofits never materialised in the volumes anticipated by Watco and Greenbrier at the time we formed GBW.

“The current arrangement is the best course of action. Greenbrier has been a great partner since 2014 and will continue to be a valued customer and supplier.”

GBW was formed by combining Greenbrier and Watco shops into a network of railcar repair facilities across the US for tank cars in oil by rail service, including tank car retrofits.

Greenbrier currently owns a railcar lease fleet of more than 8,500 railcars and provides fleet management services to owners of more than 368,000 railcars.

Watco operates a portfolio of short line railroads, port and terminal.