UK manufacturing received a welcome year-end boost when Derby train-maker Bombardier won an £188 million order.
Amid controversy, Bombardier lost out to Siemens of Germany as preferred bidder for a £1.4 billion Thameslink train contract earlier this year.
The firm has now been successful in a bid to supply 130 Electrostar train carriages to the Southern train company.
And there is also hope that Bombardier, which had to announce hundreds of job cuts after the Siemens decision, could win two more upcoming UK rail contracts.
The Government is providing £80 million for the Southern deal from money made available following Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement.
Southern runs services in south London, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. Bombardier will start producing the trains in the second half of 2012 and it is hoped they will be in service by December 2013.
Transport Secretary Justine Greening said: "This deal for more than 100 new carriages is great news for rail passengers and brilliant news for Bombardier and Derby. It lands Bombardier with a crucial train order and I look forward to Bombardier workers in Derby being among the winners of this important deal.
"This deal, helped along by my department, shows my determination to invest in Britain's railways: our support for Southern will boost capacity while helping British jobs. I can't think of a better outcome."
Paul Roberts, president of Bombardier Transportation's Services UK division, said the company was "delighted" to win the competitive tender for the new trains.
Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT transport union, said: "The Southern carriages order is both welcome and deserved and shows that Bombardier in Derby is geared up to deliver top quality engineering."
