FreightCar America, Inc., Announces Appointment of Nicholas Matthews as Vice President-Operations

Business Wire, Jan 4, 2008

CHICAGO -- FreightCar America, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAIL), announced today that Nicholas J. Matthews is joining the Company as Vice President-Operations later this month and is expected to become Senior Vice President-Operations in spring 2008. Mr. Matthews will serve as a key member of FreightCar America's leadership team and will be based at the Company's Chicago, Illinois, headquarters.

Mr. Matthews is expected to succeed Ken Bridges as Senior Vice President-Operations upon Mr. Bridges' retirement. Mr. Matthews joins the Company from Trinity Industries, where he spent fourteen years serving in various technical and operations positions of expanding leadership scope. In his most recent role, he served as Trinity's Senior Vice President-Operations for that company's freight car business. Mr. Matthews also served Trinity as Senior Vice President-Component Sales and Distribution, and Vice President and General Manager of the boxcar business. Earlier in his career, he held roles in business planning, manufacturing engineering, quality assurance and site operations leadership.

Chris Ragot, President and Chief Executive Officer of FreightCar America, Inc., stated, "We are extremely pleased that Nick Matthews has agreed to join FreightCar America. He has considerable industry experience that will allow us to build on our reputation for operational excellence. We expect that Nick will be instrumental in continuing our drive for world-class cost competitiveness while still producing products of the highest quality."

"We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Ken Bridges for his years of dedicated service to FreightCar America. Ken has played a key role in the growth of FreightCar America. In particular, he provided the operations leadership and vision which guided the growth of our Danville, Illinois, and Roanoke, Virginia, manufacturing facilities. Following his retirement, Ken will continue with the Company as a consultant on major projects and initiatives. He has truly been a significant part of our success. We wish him all the best in the future."

FreightCar America, Inc., manufactures railroad freight cars. In addition to coal cars, FreightCar America designs and builds bulk commodity cars, flat cars, mill gondola cars, intermodal cars, coil steel cars and motor vehicle carriers. It is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and has manufacturing facilities in Danville, Illinois, Roanoke, Virginia, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. More information about FreightCar America is available on its website at www.freightcaramerica.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements under the federal securities laws. The forward-looking statements relate to the Company's expected future business plans, strategies and objectives and are not historical facts. They are generally identified by qualifiers such as "will," "may," "estimate," "anticipate," "expect," "is expected," or similar expressions. There are risks and uncertainties the outcome of which could cause the Company's results to differ materially from what is projected. The forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the Company's most recent annual report, as well as the Company's Form 10-K and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, containing a discussion of the Company's business and of various factors that may affect it.