Total sales for the quarter were $1.8 billion.
Adjusted operating margin was 15.1%, driven by lean initiatives, cost actions and favorable mix from mining and mods.
Cash conversion was strong with cash flow from operations of $292 million, cash generation was due in large part to good working capital management, allowing us to deliver on our financial priorities, including the strategic acquisition of Nordco, which I'll touch up on more in a moment.
Total multiyear backlog was $21.7 billion, up sequentially over the prior quarter, providing us better visibility into 2021 and beyond.
Overall, we ended the quarter with adjusted earnings per share of $0.89, a strong reinforcement that our teams are continuing to take the necessary steps to control what we can, deliver long-term growth of the company and increased shareholder value.
In the area of synergies, we're on track to deliver the full run rate of $250 million in synergies this year, and we have positioned the company for long-term profitable growth.
This includes reducing total operational square footage by 5% since January of last year, and we will further reduce our square footage by an additional 2% for the remainder of 2021.
You saw that with our recent acquisition of Nordco, which is a leader in the maintenance of waste space, with 60% of its revenues coming from aftermarket services and a significant installed base of over 5,000 units.
As we have shared before, there are more than 10,000 FDL locomotives running globally.
With this next-gen technology, we're opening up a multimillion-dollar pipeline of opportunity that is helping customers drive down fuel consumption by up to 5% as well as drive down emissions.
That means for a single locomotive burning 250,000 gallons of fuel, it can translate into a $25,000 in savings per year.
Also, when it comes to technology differentiation, and sustainable transportation, we completed a significant operational milestone with our flex drive battery electric locomotive, testing it in revenue services with BNSF across more than 13,000 miles of track.
Through this demonstration, the flex drive was able to reduce both fuel consumption and emissions by more than 11%, a game changer in decarbonizing rail.
Finally, we had a solid quarter in transit, winning new brakes, doors, and HVAC contracts in India, Taiwan and France, including a significant order for platform doors and gates at over 30 train stations in Marcel.
Sales for the first quarter were $1.8 billion, which reflects a 5% decrease versus the prior year, driven by lower North America OE freight markets as a result of the disruption caused by the pandemic.
For the quarter, operating income was $192 million, and adjusted operating income was $277 million, which was down 9% year-over-year.
Adjusted operating income excluded pre-tax expenses of $85 million of which $70 million was for noncash amortization and $16 million of restructuring and transaction costs related to the acquisition of Nordco, along with restructuring due to the 2021 locomotive volumes and restructuring in our U.K. operations.
Adjusted operating margin was 60 basis points lower than the first quarter last year, but up 110 basis points from the fourth quarter versus last year, adjusted operating margin was impacted by under absorption costs at our manufacturing facilities, stemming from fewer locomotive deliveries as well as sales mix impacted from lower digital electronics and a higher level of transit sales.
At March 31, our multiyear backlog was $21.7 billion, up quarter-over-quarter, our rolling 12-month backlog, which is a subset of the multi-year was $5.7 billion and continues to provide good visibility into the year.
Looking at some of the detailed line items for the first quarter, adjusted SG&A declined 2% year-over-year to $224 million.
This was the result of cost actions during the downturn and excludes $11 million of restructuring and transaction expenses.
For the full year, we expect SG&A to be up about 5% versus 2020, driven by the normalization of costs following the COVID disruption.
Overall, our investment in technology is still expected to be about 6% to 7% of sales.
Amortization expense were $70 million.
For 2021, we expect noncash amortization expense to be about $285 million and depreciation expense of about $195 million.
Our adjusted effective tax rate was 27.5%, which was higher than year-over-year due to certain discrete items during the quarter.
We expect a full year 2021 effective tax rate to be about 26%.
And the first quarter GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.59 and adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.89.
Across the freight segment, total sales decreased 9% from last year to $1.2 billion, primarily driven by North America OEM markets but partially offset by strong services and aftermarket growth.
In terms of our product lines, equipment sales were down 36% year-over-year, mainly due to zero deliveries in North America, which resulted in roughly 50% fewer locomotive deliveries versus last year, a dynamic that unfortunately persists.
In line with improving freight traffic, our services sales improved a solid 13% versus last year and was up 3% sequentially.
Digital electronics sales were down 10% year-over-year as orders shifted to the right in North America due to the COVID disruption.
Component sales were down 8% year-over-year.
This is compared to a 45% lower railcar build year-over-year, demonstrating the diversification within our Components business.
Freight segment adjusted operating income was $214 million for an adjusted margin of 18.1% versus last year, the benefit of synergies and cost actions were offset by sales mix as well as under absorption due to lower locomotive deliveries.
Finally, Freight segment backlog was $18 billion, up from the prior quarter on broad multiyear order momentum across the segment.
Across our Transit segment, sales increased 3% year-over-year to $647 million, driven largely by steady aftermarket sales and favorable foreign exchange rates, offset somewhat by the disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aftermarket sales were up about 5% from last year.
Adjusted segment operating income was $79 million, which was up 6% year-over-year for an adjusted operating margin of 12.2%.
We are pleased with the momentum under way, and the teams are committed to execute on more actions to drive 100 basis points of margin improvement for this segment in 2021.
Finally, Transit segment backlog was $3.7 billion.
Despite a seasonally challenging quarter, we generated $292 million of operating cash flow, demonstrating the resiliency and quality of our business portfolio.
Cash flow was driven largely by good conversion of net income and focused working capital management, including a $93 million incremental benefit from accounts receivable securitization, which provides attractive financing and provides liquidity.
During the quarter, total capex was $27 million.
2021, we expect capex to be about $180 million or about 2% of our expected sales.
Our adjusted net leverage ratio at the end of the first quarter was 2.7 times, and our liquidity is robust at $1.7 billion.
When it comes to North America railcar built, railcars are coming back into use, more than 20% of the North American railcar fleet remains in storage, but it's back to pre-COVID levels.
And forecast, estimate the railcar build this year to be below 30,000 cars.
We are updating our sales guidance to $7.7 billion to $7.9 billion and updating adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $4.05 to $4.3.

Summary:
Total sales for the quarter were $1.8 billion.
Total multiyear backlog was $21.7 billion, up sequentially over the prior quarter, providing us better visibility into 2021 and beyond.
Overall, we ended the quarter with adjusted earnings per share of $0.89, a strong reinforcement that our teams are continuing to take the necessary steps to control what we can, deliver long-term growth of the company and increased shareholder value.
In the area of synergies, we're on track to deliver the full run rate of $250 million in synergies this year, and we have positioned the company for long-term profitable growth.
Sales for the first quarter were $1.8 billion, which reflects a 5% decrease versus the prior year, driven by lower North America OE freight markets as a result of the disruption caused by the pandemic.
At March 31, our multiyear backlog was $21.7 billion, up quarter-over-quarter, our rolling 12-month backlog, which is a subset of the multi-year was $5.7 billion and continues to provide good visibility into the year.
And the first quarter GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.59 and adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.89.
We are updating our sales guidance to $7.7 billion to $7.9 billion and updating adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $4.05 to $4.3.