Debt (Details Textual) (USD $)			1 Months Ended											9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Jul. 31, 2011	Feb. 28, 2011 TILC Warehouse Facility Non Recourse Leasing [Member] Installment	Sep. 30, 2011 TILC Warehouse Facility Non Recourse Leasing [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 TRIP Holdings Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 TRIP Master Funding Secured Railcar Equipment Notes [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 TRIP Master Funding Secured Railcar Equipment Class A-1a Notes [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 TRIP Master Funding Secured Railcar Equipment Class A-1b Notes [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 TRIP Master Funding Secured Railcar Equipment Class A-2 Notes [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Corporate Revolving Credit Facility [Member]	Oct. 20, 2011 Corporate Revolving Credit Facility [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Corporate Revolving Credit Facility [Member]	Jun. 30, 2007 TRIP Holdings Warehouse Loan Non Recourse Leasing [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Convertible subordinated notes [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Convertible subordinated notes [Member]
Debt (Textual) [Abstract]
Revolving credit facility				$ 475,000,000								$ 425,000,000
Revolving credit facility expiration date before extended	Oct. 19, 2012
Used revolving credit facility for letter of credit												82,600,000
Availability of the revolving credit facility				194,300,000								342,400,000
Borrowing under revolving credit facility exclusive of letters of credit	0
Letter of credit maturing current year	8,100,000
Variable reference rate of the line of credit facility												LIBOR
Percentage points added to LIBOR to compute interest rates on the revolving credit facility												0.75%
Alternative basis spread description added to LIBOR to compute Interest rates on the revolving credit facility												Prime
Extended period for credit facility											4 years
Revolving credit facility expiration date after extension											Oct. 20, 2016
Debt instrument interest rate features							payable monthly	payable monthly	payable monthly
Amended credit facility, description of variable rate reference rate basis										LIBOR
Percentage points added to LIBOR to compute Interest rates on the amended credit facility										1.50%
Amended credit facility, description of variable rate reference rate basis, alternative computation										prime
Percentage points added to prime to compute Interest rates on the amended credit facility, alternative computation										0.50%
Interest rate on convertible subordinated notes					8.00%		4.37%		6.02%					3.875%
Capital in excess of par value related to the convertible subordinated notes' conversion options														92,800,000	92,800,000
Effective annual interest rate based upon the estimated market interest rate														8.42%
Conversion price of convertible subordinated notes														$ 51.47
Number of shares issuable in exchange of Convertible Subordinated Notes														8,742,957
TILC warehouse facility				280,700,000
Interest at a defined index rate plus a margin for advances under the facility				2.25%
Additional period for warehouse loan facility			2 years
Maturity date of warehouse loan facility			February, 2013
Number of installments payable for amounts outstanding at maturity, absent renewal			3
Installment payable date, installment one			August 2013
Installment payable date, installment two			February 2014
Installment payable date, installment three			August 2014
TRIP warehouse loan agreement, Amount					175,000,000	857,000,000							1,190,000,000
Debt instrument, yield to call features					payable quarterly
Debt instrument final maturity date					Jul. 06, 2014
Debt instrument, Yield to call percentage for redemptions or other prepayments on or prior to January 15, 2013					12.00%
Debt instrument, Yield to call percentage for redemptions or other prepayments after January 15, 2013					15.00%
Trinity portion of the TRIP Holdings Senior Secured Notes		112,000,000
Debt Instrument, Final Maturity Date Description						in July 2041
Percentage points added to LIBOR								2.50%
Debt instrument, description of reference rate								LIBOR
Total Outstanding							$ 217,700,000	$ 123,000,000	$ 509,600,000