John A. Olin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies
Thanks, Rafael, and hello everyone. Turning to slide eight, I will review our second quarter results in more detail. We delivered another strong quarter of operational and financial performance with underlying business momentum strengthening through the first half of the year. Sales for the second quarter were $2.41 billion, which reflects a 17.5% increase versus the prior year. Sales were driven by strong growth across all major product lines.
For the quarter, GAAP operating income was up $48 million, driven by higher sales. Adjusted operating margin in Q2 was 16.4%, down 0.3 percentage points versus the prior year. The benefits of higher sales were offset by a less rich mix of sales between and within segments. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.06, which was up 16.5% versus the second quarter a year ago. During the quarter, we had pretax charges of $10 million for restructuring which was primarily related to our Integration 2.0 initiative to further integrate Wabtec's operations and to drive $75 million to $90 million of run rate savings by 2025. In the quarter, adjusted earnings per diluted share were $1.41, up 14.6% versus the prior year.
Overall, Wabtec executed a good quarter and a strong first half of 2023. We outperformed our expectations, demonstrating the underlying strength and momentum of the business and as a result, we are raising our full year outlook for sales and adjusted earnings. Now turning to slide nine. Let's review our product lines in more detail. Second quarter consolidated sales were very strong, up 17.5%. Equipment sales were up 8.9% due to higher locomotive sales this quarter versus last year's second quarter. Components sales were up 23.1% versus last year, largely driven by the higher OE railcar build and an increase in our market share due to product availability, along with increased demand for industrial products.
We also closed the strategic acquisition of L&M late in the quarter, which did not have an impact on components sales during the quarter. Digital Intelligence sales were up 18.9%, which was driven by robust demand for onboard locomotive products and international PTC, along with revenue contribution from the acquisitions in Q2 of last year. Our Services sales grew 13.9%. Sales growth was driven by higher sales from increased modernization deliveries and increased parts sales.
Our customers continue to recognize a superior performance, reliability, efficiency, and availability across their Wabtec locomotive fleets. Across our Transit segment, OE and aftermarket sales significantly increased versus last year. Segment sales were up 25.3% to $699 million. The momentum in this segment is strong across our core markets as secular drivers such as urbanization and decarbonization accelerate the need for investments in sustainable infrastructure. Moving to slide 10.
As forecasted, gross profit margin was slightly lower, driven by a less rich mix and higher manufacturing costs. Mix was unfavorable driven by strong sales from the Transit segment and higher sales of new locomotives and modernizations within the Freight segment. Raw material costs, while still elevated, were largely flat on a year-over-year basis.
Foreign currency exchange was unfavorable to sales by $7 million or 0.3 percentage point, and it reduced our second quarter gross profits by $2 million. Finally, manufacturing costs were positively impacted by favorable fixed cost absorption, more than offset by manufacturing inefficiencies at our Erie facility in June. Our team continues to execute well to mitigate the impact of continued cost pressures by driving operational productivity and lean initiatives.
Turning to slide 11. For the second quarter, GAAP operating margin was 12.9%, which was flat versus last year, while adjusted operating margin declined 0.3 percentage points to 16.4%. GAAP SG&A was $285 million, and adjusted SG&A was $283 million, both of which were up versus the prior year, but down significantly as a percent of sales. Engineering expense increased from last year according to plan, yet was down 0.2 percentage points as a percentage of sales at 2.2%. We continue to invest engineering resources and current business opportunities but more importantly, we are investing in our future as the leader in decarbonization and digital technologies that improve our customers' productivity, capacity utilization and safety.
Now let's take a look at the segment results on slide 12, starting with the Freight segment. As I already discussed, Freight segment sales were strong for the quarter, up 14.6%. GAAP segment operating income was $271 million for an operating margin of 15.9%, up 0.2 percentage points versus last year. Adjusted operating income for the Freight segment was $346 million, up 15% versus the prior year. Adjusted operating margin in the Freight segment was flat with prior year at 20.3%.
The benefits of increased sales, including fixed cost absorption and lower SG&A as a percentage of revenue were offset by unfavorable mix from higher sales of international locos and modernizations as well as nonrecurring expenses from our labor negotiations in Erie. Finally, segment multiyear backlog was $18.3 billion, down 6.8% from the end of Q2 last year, while the 12-month backlog was $5.3 billion, up 10.3% over the same period. The 12-month backlog continues to show momentum beyond 2023. Conversely, the year-over-year reduction in the backlog was driven by lapping last year's significant multiyear order from Union Pacific for over $1 billion of modernizations. Now turning to slide 13.
Transit segment sales were up 25.3%, driven by strong OE and aftermarket sales. GAAP operating income was $66 million, up 32.0% and GAAP operating income increased as a result of higher sales and benefits from our Integration 2.0 activities, partially offset by higher restructuring costs. Adjusted segment operating income was $76 million which was up 31.0%. This resulted in adjusted operating margin of 11.1%, up 0.8 percentage point from last year. Finally, Transit segment multiyear backlog for the quarter was $4.1 billion, up 15.4% versus a year ago. Now let's turn to our financial position on slide 14. Q2 cash from operations was $115 million.
While cash flow benefited from higher earnings, we are continuing to invest in the businesses growth, which is driving working capital higher, in particular, receivables and inventory. Despite that, we continue to drive toward a greater than 90% cash conversion for the full year. Our debt leverage ratio was 2.4 times at the end of the second quarter, which was flat versus prior year, primarily due to the acquisition of L&M. As we look forward, we have a $250 million senior note at 4.38% coming due in August.
We intend to roll that debt into our delayed draw term facility. I'd like to spend just a moment on providing some additional color on L&M. As Rafael mentioned, during the quarter, we completed the bolt-on acquisition of L&M. This strategic acquisition will extend and complement our portfolio of premium heat transfer solutions in mining. We purchased L&M for $223 million in cash, and the business is expected to have calendar year 2023 sales of about $130 million. And finally, we returned $105 million of capital back to shareholders in the quarter through share repurchases and dividends. As you can see in these results, our financial position is strong, and we continue to allocate capital and a balanced strategy to maximize shareholder returns.
With that, I'd like to turn the call back over to Rafael.
