Consolidated Statements of Operations - USD ($) shares in Millions, $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Revenues:
Total revenues	$ 3,662.8	$ 4,588.3	$ 6,392.7
Cost of revenues:
Total cost of revenues	2,745.5	3,456.1	4,656.2
Selling, engineering, and administrative expenses:
Total selling, engineering, and administrative expenses	454.8	407.4	476.4
Gains on disposition of property:
Net gains on railcar lease fleet sales owned more than one year at the time of sale	83.5	13.5	166.1
Other	3.1	3.9	12.7
Total gains on disposition of property	86.6	17.4	178.8
Total operating profit	549.1	742.2	1,438.9
Other (income) expense:
Interest income	(10.6)	(5.4)	(2.2)
Interest expense	184.0	181.9	194.7
Other, net	3.7	(1.1)	(5.6)
Total other (income) expense	177.1	175.4	186.9
Income before income taxes	372.0	566.8	1,252.0
Provision (benefit) for income taxes:
Current	(4.2)	(119.3)	309.4
Deferred	(337.4)	321.4	116.6
Total provision for income taxes	(341.6)	202.1	426.0
Discontinued operations:
Net income	713.6	364.7	826.0
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest	11.1	21.1	29.5
Net income attributable to Trinity Industries, Inc.	$ 702.5	$ 343.6	$ 796.5
Basic:
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ 4.62	$ 2.25	$ 5.14
Diluted:
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ 4.52	$ 2.25	$ 5.08
Weighted average number of shares outstanding:
Basic (in shares)	148.6	148.4	150.2
Diluted (in shares)	152.0	148.6	152.2
Dividends declared per common share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.5	$ 0.44	$ 0.43
Manufacturing
Revenues:
Total revenues	$ 2,820.6	$ 3,763.4	$ 5,301.1
Cost of revenues:
Total cost of revenues	2,313.2	3,019.6	4,043.9
Selling, engineering, and administrative expenses:
Total selling, engineering, and administrative expenses	237.0	231.0	271.4
Leasing
Revenues:
Total revenues	842.2	824.9	1,091.6
Cost of revenues:
Total cost of revenues	432.3	436.5	612.3
Selling, engineering, and administrative expenses:
Total selling, engineering, and administrative expenses	50.5	45.4	52.4
Other
Selling, engineering, and administrative expenses:
Total selling, engineering, and administrative expenses	$ 167.3	$ 131.0	$ 152.6