Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd (www.global.kawasaki.com says that its US subsidiary — Kawasaki Rail Car Inc (KRC) — is to supply 535 new-generation subway cars — known as the R211 series — to New York City Transit (NYCT), in an order worth about $1.4 billion.

The cars (a mock-up is shown in the picture) will be manufactured and fitted out in Lincoln, Nebraska, while final assembly and testing will be undertaken both there and in Yonkers, New York.

The cars are scheduled to be delivered to NYCT from 2020 through 2023.

The contract includes options for up to 1,077 more cars, taking the total number to 1,612 and the total contract value to about $3.7 billion.

That would make it the largest rail contract ever awarded to Kawasaki, and it would keep its US production lines running until 2025.

Kawasaki has delivered over 2,200 cars to NYCT since receiving its first order in 1982 (for R62 subway cars).

The R211 cars are scheduled to replace the NYCT fleet of R46 cars and the Staten Island Railway’s fleet.