GREENBRIER COMPANIES INC

We have managed a portion of our variable rate debt with interest rate swap agreements, effectively converting $462.2 million of variable rate debt to fixed rate debt. Notwithstanding these interest rate swap agreements, we are still exposed to interest rate risk relating to our revolving debt and a portion of term debt, which are at variable rates. At August 31, 2026, 85% of our outstanding debt had fixed rates and 15% had variable rates. At August 31, 2026, a uniform 10% increase in variable interest rates would result in approximately $0.9 million of additional annual interest expense.

To the Stockholders and Board of Directors

The Greenbrier Companies, Inc.:

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. and subsidiaries (the Company) as of August 31, 2026 and 2025, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended August 31, 2026, and the related notes (collectively, the consolidated financial statements). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of August 31, 2026 and 2025, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended August 31, 2026, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of August 31, 2026, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013)issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, and our report dated October 26, 2026 expressed an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of a critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Sufficiency of audit evidence over inventory

As discussed in Notes 1, 2, and 4 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company operates from facilities in the U.S., Mexico, Poland and Romania to produce various railcars, component parts and perform railcar maintenance services and wheel and axle servicing. Work-in-process inventory includes material, labor and overhead. Finished goods includes completed wheels, component parts and finished railcars in transit or not on lease. The Company held $742.1 million of inventory as of August 31, 2026.

We identified the evaluation of the sufficiency of audit evidence over inventory as a critical audit matter. Determining the locations over which to perform procedures required a high degree of subjective auditor judgment due to the numerous global locations where inventory is held and the number of information technology (IT) systems involved in the inventory processes. Involvement of IT professionals with specialized skills and knowledge was required to assist in the performance of certain procedures.

The following are the primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter. We applied auditor judgment to determine the nature and extent of procedures performed over inventory, including the selection of locations where procedures were performed. For each location over which procedures were performed, we evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of certain internal controls over the Company’s inventory processes. For each inventory location over which procedures were performed, we involved IT professionals who assisted in testing general IT controls for certain IT applications and automated controls used by the Company in its inventory processes. In addition, for a sample of recorded inventory items, we assessed the quantities recorded by comparing to quantities physically counted and, for a sample of recorded inventory items, we assessed the cost recorded by comparing to underlying documentation, including purchase invoices. We evaluated the sufficiency of audit evidence obtained by assessing the results of procedures performed, including the appropriateness of the nature and extent of such evidence.

/s/ KPMG LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2011.

Portland, Oregon

October 26, 2026