Bombardier Transportation has announced it has secured an additional order for 130 Bombardier Electrostar cars from Southern in the United Kingdom.

The new trains will augment Southern’s existing fleet of Bombardier’s electric multiple units.

The contract is valued at £189 million.

“We are delighted to be awarded this contract by Southern,” said president of Bombardier Transportation.

“This is a significant project which emphasises the performance of Bombardier’s products in the UK.

“These vehicles have a proven track record for their excellent reliability and environmental performance which will now benefit many additional passengers in London and the South East.

“The new trains will be manufactured in the UK with initial production commencing in the latter half of 2012.”

The deal was part-funded with an £80 million subsidy from the British government.

The move was designed to ensure production would continue at the company’s plant in Derby.

Earlier this year the government was criticised for choosing German rival Siemens over Bombardier as preferred bidder for the £1.4 billion Thameslink rail contract.

Chris Burchell, Southern managing director said: “The contract with Bombardier supports our commitment to the Department for Transport’s High Level Output Specification for railways (HLOS) enabling us to provide additional capacity, performance and safety to all our passengers.

“Following a competitive tender process, we found that the Bombardier solution could meet our challenging delivery timetable, was affordable and also offered compatibility with our existing fleet.”